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Bevo (mascot)

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Bevo I (1917).

Bevo is the name of the mascot of the sports teams at the University of Texas at Austin, a Texas longhorn steer with burnt orange coloring. Bevo is one of the most recognized college mascots^[1] and has even been called "the toughest-looking animal mascot in sports".^[2] The shape of the Longhorn's head and horns gives rise to the schools hand symbol and saying, Hook 'em Horns. The current Bevo is fourteenth in the line of longhorns that have been the university's mascot. There are conflicting stories as to how Bevo came by that name.

1 History
- 1.1 Lineage
- 1.2 Origin of the name Bevo
2 Public appearances and traditions
3 References
4 External links

A Longhorn steer was not the original mascot of the University of Texas. The original mascot was actually a pit bulldog named "Pig".^[3]

The idea to use a live longhorn as the university's mascot is attributed to UT alumnus Stephen Pinckney in 1916. Pinckney gathered $124 from other alumni to purchase a steer in the Texas Panhandle, which they originally named "Bo" and shipped to Austin.

Counting the currently serving mascot, there have been fourteen Bevos to date. Bevo I was originally named "Bo" but came to be called Bevo during his service. Bevo II once charged an SMU cheerleader, who had to defend himself with his megaphone.^[4] Bevo III escaped from his enclosure and ran amok across campus.^[4] Bevo IV once attacked a parked car, while Bevo V broke loose and scattered the Baylor band.^[4] More recent Bevos have had a more peaceful tenure.

The most recently retired Bevo was Bevo XIII, which like the current Bevo was supplied to the university by John T. Baker, owner of the Sunrise Ranch in Liberty Hill, Texas. Baker is past president of the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America and serves as a judge in its competitions. Bevo XIII, originally named Sunrise Express, was a champion steer at the age of 3, before becoming the UT mascot.^[5] Bevo XIII became the mascot in 1988 and served 16 seasons on the sideline.^[6]^[7] He presided over 191 UT football games and attended President George W. Bush's inauguration in 2001.^[5] During his tenure, he presided over two conference football championships and a Heisman trophy award for Ricky Williams. Bevo XIII was the winningest Bevo in UT history, and was replaced by youth grand champion Sunrise Studly, becoming Bevo XIV, at the September 4, 2004 football game versus the University of North Texas. It was the first and only time that two Bevo's have ever appeared at the same football game. Bevo XIII was returned to Baker's ranch where he lived out the rest of his days in peace. Bevo XIII died on October 9th, 2006 due to heart failure.^[6]^[5]^[7]

Bevo XIV, the currently serving Bevo, was originally named Sunrise Studly.^[5] He was also born on Sunrise Ranch and he is also a champion steer.^[5] He attended George W. Bush's second inauguration in January 2005. Bevo XIV attended the 2005 Rose Bowl win over Michigan as well as the 2006 Rose Bowl game that gave the Longhorns the 2005-2006 National Championship win over USC.^[2]

"Bo" made his first public appearance at the halftime of the 1916 Thanksgiving Day football game between Texas and archrival the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (later Texas A&M University), a game in which Texas defeated the Aggies 22 - 7.^[8] Following the game, Ben Dyer, editor of the UT campus magazine The Alcalde, referred to the mascot as BEVO.^[9] It is not known why he chose this name, though various theories have been put forth.^[9]

The best-known tale has been called into question.^[9]^[10] The legend claims that the name came about due to an incident of vandalism led by students of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas.^[11]^[12]^[9] It is true that in 1917, four Texas Aggies kidnapped the longhorn and branded him with "13 - 0", the score of A&M's 1915 win over Texas.^[9]^[12]^[10] Texas students are rumored to have retaliated by changing the steer's brand to Bevo, as is sometimes claimed.^[9]^[10] However, there is actually evidence that Bevo was fattened up and served at a football banquet in 1920, due to the fact the university did not have the money to take care of him and he was not tamed to roam the campus.^[9]^[10] The Aggies were fed the side they had branded and presented with the hide, which still read 13–0.^[9]^[10] Since Ben Dyer had used the term one year previously, this would mean that the A&M prank could not have led to the name.^[9] Another story states that it is possible the editor had "Bevo" in mind, which was a near beer. However, the beverage did not become popular on campus until a later time, so this does not explain why Dyer would make such a reference.^[9]

Perhaps the most plausible story was the one reported in The Daily Texan, the student newspaper of UT: "Through the 1900s and 1910s, newspapers ran a series of comic strips drawn by Gus Mager. The strips usually featured monkeys as the main characters, all named for their personality traits. Braggo the Monk constantly made empty boasts, Sherlocko the Monk was a bumbling detective, and so on. The comic strips were popular enough to create a nationwide fad for persons to nickname their friends the same way, with an "o" added to the end. The Marx Brothers were so named by their colleagues in Vaudeville: Groucho was moody, Harpo played the harp, and Chico chased girls ("chicks"). Mager's strips ran every Sunday in newspapers throughout Texas, including Austin.^[9]

Bevo makes appearances at all home football games of the University of Texas, as well as many away games. He also typically makes appearances at important pep rallies, such as the ones in the weeks before the games against Texas A&M and the University of Oklahoma. Following commencement ceremonies, he is typically on hand for photographs with graduates and their families.

Since 1945, the care of Bevo during his transportation and appearances has been entrusted to an honorary organization of undergraduate students called the Silver Spurs.^[13] Bevo rides in a special burnt orange livestock trailer with his name on the side.

During football games, he typically stands or sits placidly behind one of the end zones (the south end zone in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium) and is occasionally greeted by UT players when they score touchdowns. Contrary to popular belief, Bevo is not drugged during football games.^[14] Bred to be docile, he is riled only in the most extreme of circumstances, such as once during a lightning storm during a game against Rice University, in which he broke away from his handlers.