The Bobcat: A Brief History of the Ohio University Mascot

While I tried to think of something historical about Ohio University, I was thinking about the unfortunate loss to Miami we had last Saturday.  That eventually got me thinking about how our mascot came to be the Bobcats.  “In 1925, the members of the OHIO Athletic Board contemplated an official nickname for Ohio University to replace “Ohio,” the “Green and White” and “The Nameless Wonders” (OHIO Bobcats and the Mascots | Ohio University Alumni Association).  They held a contest with a prize of 10 dollars, which would be about 120 dollars today.  Hal H. Rowland, a former student and Athens resident won with “Bobcat” as his idea.  It was adopted on December 7^th, 1925.  The Bobcat mascot first appeared at Ohio’ Homecoming game in 1960 against the Miami Redhawks.  The team won 21-0, went on to have a 10-0 season, and was voted NCAA National College Division Champions.  Tom Schantz was in charge of designing the mascot’s costume, which took a lot of twist and turns over the years.  This then brought up the question of who would wear the Bobcat costume.  A member of the class of 1963 named Dan Nichols was the first to don the costume.  This began “the tradition that the person donning the costume must live in Lincoln Hall, a tradition that lasted for several decades” (OHIO Bobcats and the Mascots | Ohio University Alumni Association).  The current name of our Bobcat “Rufus” came in 2006.  The name came from the scientific name of a bobcat (Lynx rufus) and Rufus Putnam, on of the Ohio University founders. 

            I found this bit of information really interesting to who we are as Ohio University students.  We always see Rufus at basketball and football games bringing on the school spirit for our teams.  The mascot plays a big role in the identification of a team in my opinion.  The Bobcat has come a long way to being Rufus the Bobcat we all love and know today.  Researching this makes me wonder how other colleges chose the mascots they did because some of them are ridiculous.

Work Cited

"OHIO Bobcats and the Mascots | Ohio University Alumni Association." Ohio University Alumni Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. <http://www.ohioalumni.org/bobcats-mascots>.

A Story to Pass Down

      A story I hope gets passed down in my family is about my older brother, Addam. Addam is five years older than me so I did not get to "grow up" with him very much, but there are stories from his childhood I wish I could have been old enough to enjoy experiencing. One of my favorites that I hope gets passed down to future generations takes place when Addam was finally old enough to reach out of his crib and flick the light switch in his room on and off. Apparently, when he found out this fabulous new skill of his, he stayed up all night turning the lights on and off. My parents would hear Addam saying, "Light on! Light off! Light on! Light off!" from their room and would have to take turns going to lay him back down and tell him to go to sleep. A few hours later, they would once again hear Addam's "Light on! Light off! Light on! Light off!" and go back to find him standing in his crib just flicking the light switch up and down over and over again. This story was always a classic in my family because my brother is such a funny character and it's precious to think about him as a toddler so fascinated with the lightswitch. I hope this story gets passed down to future generations so they can get a laugh out of it too!

Story to Pass Down

This story happened very recently. It was my first push to really make a change in what I know about the world.

            I’ll admit it; I’m ignorant when it comes to politics. I’ve always been embarrassed to voice my opinions in class or to my friends because I don’t know enough about the political parties. I consider myself to be a smart woman, but I definitely focus more on biology and anatomy rather than history and economics. But on Wednesday, October 17, I had the privilege of witnessing a historic event that a small sum of American’s will get to share with me. Our current President of the United States, Barack Obama, visited OU to give a speech concerning the upcoming election. At first I was confused to why he visited MY school instead of somewhere that was larger and better known. I soon found out that Ohio is a big swing state during the elections, and that OU is one of the larger, predominantly liberal schools in the state. The tickets were free, so I had no excuse to not go.

            College green was packed with thousands of people. When President Obama came out and approached the podium, the atmosphere in the crowd was unlike anything I’ve ever experience before. It’s unbelievable that one man can hold so much power in his words. People were crying, yelling, cheering all around me. It was something that people would’ve paid good money to see, and I was lucky enough to see it all for free.

            I feel like I’ve been given an opportunity to go forward with my knowledge on politics. However, even after the speech, I still know very little about what’s going on in our country. This is my opportunity, now, to learn more, like everyone else who was there. The experience that I had my junior year with the President of the United States, will be passed down from in my family for a long time. 

A Story To Pass Down

One story about me that I hope will be passed down is very scary story that can add a bit of knowledge to every day life.  It occurred December 28^th, 2005 at our house.  My parents were returning from an excited week spent with my aunt and cousin in Paris, France.  We were expecting very cold conditions on our way home.  The moment we walked into our house and put our bags away, my dad turned on the heat to warm up the room.  We all went about our regular day just relaxing, waiting to get back on a regular scheduled time.

            While I played video games in my dad’s room he was checking the Internet, while my mom laid on the couch and watched TV.  About thirty minutes later my mom told us that he head was hurting and was going to lay down for a nap.  Eventually my dad and I were developing the same head pain but continued with what we were doing.  I then found myself feeling light-headed and dizzy and I was losing focus on what was going on in my game and I kept dying.  I felt like the room was spinning all around me.  As I told this to my dad, he turned off the game and told me to lie down.

            It was hard to stand up and climb the stairs to my room, so I had to crawl up the stairs.  When I reached the top I tried to get to my feet to walking to my bed and lay down.  I had never had a headache this bad in my life, but I figured having a nap would help.  It was hard to get to sleep because the pain was excruciating.  I eventually faded into a deep sleep.

            I awoke to find my dad shaking me awake to get up.  I’d never seen my dad so shaken up before and I got up and walked with to the stairs.  As I got to the staircase I looked down to see a paramedic and a firefighter at the bottom of the stairs.  I still felt dizzy and was become disoriented.  As my dad helped me down the stairs my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I fell down the stairs when my dad let go of me to talk to the paramedic outside.  The paramedic took me to the ambulance parked outside of our house.  My mother got in the ambulance and was doing her best to give my info to the paramedics as she was crying watching me lying on back in pain.  We all were rushed to the hospital.

            I was rushed into a room and was put on an oxygen machine.  My parents entered the room and were hooked up to oxygen machines as well.  I looked around the room, still confused and disoriented, but I just kept looking at my parents and became very upset at my surroundings. 

            The doctor walked in and explained to us that we were here because our house had high levels of carbon monoxide.  Our house had an old furnace that we turned off when we left for our trip. While we were gone, the furnace must have gotten messed up and caused a leak of carbon monoxide.  The doctor said that if my mom called 911 later than she did, we would all be dead.  Hearing these words sent a direct message to my brain and I began to panic in the hospital room and the nurses tried to calm me down.  I had never heard of carbon monoxide and was terrified if we stayed in there longer.  Needless to say we were alive and after some long hours at the hospital, we were free to go.  We stayed in a hotel room down from our house for a few days till the house was cleared out of gas.  Since then we have a new furnace and a carbon monoxide monitor.

            I hope that this story is passed down to my descendants because carbon monoxide is an issue that some homeowners are not aware of.  For us, we had an old house and never in a million years thought that it would happen.  We’ve told this story to our friends, family, and co-workers and they have looked into preventing carbon monoxide leaks at their own homes. I hope that people take this story seriously and understand that carbon monoxide is a scentless gas that can’t be seen and the importance of understanding it can help save lives. Everything mentioned before is 100

Family Stories

One story comes to my mind when I think of tradition and stories being passed down is the story of Rolling Rock(the beer) and my family. In the 1930's my great-grandpa immigrated to the United States from Germany. My great grandpa and a few of his friends (the Tito brothers) had this idea that they were going to come over to America and start a brewing company. When they actually got to America my great grandpa decided that he was going to start his life with his family and be a baker in the hills of Pennsylvania and not go with the boys to start the brewery. Little did my great grandpa know that this brewery would soon become the brewery with the most well known and delicious beer. My great grandpa was almost one of the co-founders of Rolling Rock. In our family we have a lot of the original bottles from when the Tito brothers first started brewing, we also have some serving platters with the Rolling Rock emblem on it as well as a few other Rolling Rock memorabilia.

I want to continue passing down this story in my family. I think that it's a super cool story that not a lot of people have. Even though my great grandpa didn't actually go with the brothers to start the brewery they still kept him in the loop throughout the whole business venture. They always ventured out into the hills to hang out with my great grandpa and catch up with him as well as bring him things. They remained friends throughout it all. I don't know if this story would be valuable to others or not, I just think it's a super cool story and super cool that I almost could have had free Rolling Rock beer for life. 

I may even know the answer to the much debated secret of the "33" on the bottle ;) 

Whistlin' and Crowin'

Nate Coghlan           

Blog two

Whistlin’ and Crowin’

            After reading Whistlin’ and Crowin’ Women of Appalachia many of the common stereotypes about the culture are contradicted. I found it surprising how different a culture that was so often referred to as “hillbillies” could be so far from it. Although the Appalachian culture does use its own unique form of language and secludes itself from the modern society so many of us are used to this is done intentionally. When reading about these extremely independent women and Sohn herself one theme continues to stand out and that is a love for the hills in which they live. After each of these three women have the opportunity to expand upon their educations all three remain in Appalachia. I also found it interesting and surprising that although this is a male dominated society women are far more likely to graduate from high school. This strikes me as interesting because value for men in Appalachia is found in the coalmines where education will take you further in the rest of the country. This allows for women to continue their education and for the most part generally have the best opportunities to leave Appalachia.

            When reading Sohn’s book there were different things that I enjoyed reading and other parts that were necessary but dry at times. One part that I liked reading was each of the three women’s personal experience sections. This part allowed the reader to really get to know the women that were being studied in this dissertation and help me to understand the culture on a much more personal level. As for something that I felt was extremely useful but didn’t enjoy reading was the style in which it was written. Sohn used a very factual structured format to present her case into how women of Appalachia could substantially better themselves through further education. I understand why Sohn chose to use this format, but as a reader it was relatively dry and at times felt as if things were dragging on.

            In this book I felt that Sohn’s main purpose for was to break the on going stereotypes of Appalachia specifically looking at women. I thought that Sohn did a great job arguing the fact that women were better off with higher education and also proved a point that Appalachian women are not all uneducated housewives. However, I do disagree with a portion of her research when she was trying to show the independence and strength of each of the women in her study. By using subjects like Lucy and Sarah she unfortunately reinforced the stereotype of uneducated stubborn men in Appalachia. In both women’s cases the husbands did not support their educational endeavors and with Lucy the physical abuse only adds to the negative perception.

            Women of Appalachia was an eye-opening book and although it does not relate to me beyond the scope of Athens it does give me a better perspective to the culture. I think that Sohn’s book is useful in adding to the conversation on how Appalachian culture is constructed in American culture. It is generally perceived as being behind the rest of the country but this book helps to identify that Appalachia is in no hurry to attempt catching up. These rural communities in the hills enjoy their culture and will hold onto their way of life as long as possible. 

Whislin' and Crowin' Response

When I first started reading Whislin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia, I really had no idea if I would come to enjoy it or not. This is the first time that I have read an academic work like this dissertation before. The only books that I tend to enjoy on a regular basis are novels with more of a storyline to them, however I did find this book interesting. Having been born and raised in Ohio, the topic of Appalachian culture has been around me for years, but I have never studied it like I have with this book. The stories of these women were particularly inspiring to me. Their self motivation to attend college to better their personal lives and the lives of their families was impressive to me because of the common perception of the Appalachian people. It was great for me to see them to succeed as it has helped me to understand that these women are not much different form myself in the fact that I am currently seeking a college education. Overall, this was an enjoyable read for me.  

Whistlin' & Crowin' Review

When I finished reading Katherine Kelleher Sohn's book, Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia, I had some mixed feelings.  I was not entirely sure if I should address the book as a scholary research work or as a narrative sort of study.  I suppose the end result of the book was a set of lessons which we as a country (and specifically our educational system) could learn when it comes to Appalachian students.  However, in  getting to these lessons, there were innumerable narratives from the subjects of the study as well as some of their family members.  It was these that I felt were being used to build empathy for the women in the books, in addition to simply studying their literacy practices.

I think this book adds a new perspective to what we think we know about Appalachian people.  It shows that Appalachians are tenacious, proud, strong, and independent.  I believe this is good for all to know because we tend to give Appalachians a bad name.  In response to the way the women in the book were portrayed, I think it was wise to give their backgrounds because they all seemed to share stories of being looked down upon, which I think is something that every person can relate to whether they are Appalachian or not.  Overall, I'd say this was a decent book when it comes to its message; it was a bit of a slow read, though.

Academic Carpetbaggers

My grandfather was Appalachian. That's thanks to the latest map of the region; he was born and raised on the family farm in Coshocton county, Ohio. His mother, Ana Erla Chapman, was a bona fide West Virginia baptist, and not-to-distant cousin to John Chapman (better known as Johnny Appleseed). She and my great-grandfather, Ira Truman Gross, were dairy farmers who raised 7 children on that farm.

 
I grew up on that farm, too, but only on weekends and holidays. I fish in the pond and hunt deer in the hollow (not the holler, like it is down south), but I wasn't raised there. Like Sohn, I do not consider myself Appalachian. Geographically, we're both on the edge; fifty miles one way or the other and there might be a bit more twang to my voice, but there isn't. I consider myself "mid-western" or "great lakes," she might say "southern" or "dixie." At any rate, we're border-liners, neither of the hills nor foreign to them.

I suppose if academia has to write about Appalachia, and how hard it is to be working class, white, christian Americans, I'm glad it's someone from the border doing it. Folks from the coasts, New York, D.C. and California - it doesn't seem possible they'd be able to escape the carpetbagger/missionary label in the minds of true locals. Then again, how's an Appalachian supposed to remain unbiased when talking about their home?

Sohn and I may not be the best of buds, and I certainly don't believe that she's a neutral party, but I appreciate the effort.

Whistlin' and Crowin' Review

When we began reading Whistlin’ and Crowin’ Women of Appalachia by Katherine Kelleher Sohn I was very skeptical. Reading a dissertation piece for class was uncharted territory for me. Never having read a dissertation piece I didn't know what to expect. I went into it expecting the worst, but I gained a lot of interest as I continued on. I greatly enjoyed the stories told from the perspectives' of Jean, Sarah and Lucy. The way Sohn laid the book out gave you great background detail into all three of the Appalachian women's lives. What I enjoyed most about it was reading the hardships that these women overcame. To me this book was almost inspiring. That being said, I didn't appreciate Sohn changing the dialect of the women. She mentions in chapter one how she changes the grammar of the women, yet it doesn't seem fair to take that personal identity away from them. All in all I enjoyed the reading and feel as though I gained more knowledge of Appalachia. The dissertation proved to be entertaining and informative, and proved my skepticism wrong.

Whistlin' and Crowin' review

Even though I have lived in Appalachia almost all of my life, I still had never really thought about the culture and stereotypes that come with living here. It was not until working in Athens and Vinton County schools did I realize the uniqueness of it. Despite all the stereotypes and judgements that come with living in Appalachia, the women in Whistlin' and Crowin' Women of Appalachia prove that it is possible to be educated, and despite all the cons it is a great place to live. I learned that people of any background can earn an education as long as they find a way to do it. Most importantly I learned to be more proud of my Appalachian background and show others what makes it a great place to live.

Whistlin' and Crowin'

For the first time in my life Sohn’s book let me take an in-depth look into Appalachian life. Before I opened this book the last thing on my mind was life in Appalachia because they’re a group of people I have very little in common with so, I’ve never had a reason to learn anything about them.  I certainly had my stereotypes, and very few of them were positive. From page one until the end, I maintained an open mind. I aspired to rebuild some of my stereotypes, hoping Sohn’s text would be a wide ranging study on Appalachians.

Instead, Sohn’s study only represented less than a handful of women. I think if Sohn truly wanted to change the way people felt about Appalachians, she would have written about more women, in all parts of Appalachia instead of just a few that attended the same college. For me, it takes more than just a few carefully selected women to rebuild an entire region’s stereotypes. Sohn did an admirable job going in depth about women she studied, but I found little in common with the situations she wrote about. Even though I see college as a valuable privilege, it’s a rite of passage for kids from my affluent suburb to attend college. Making a big deal about a few women who were eventually able to complete their degrees seemed odd to me.

Lastly, I think Sohn’s text didn’t do much to dispel Appalachian stereotypes. Her book is still valuable because it creates conversation and promotes a new way to think about Appalachia. Just walking around Athens and seeing the townies has really made me think about what their lives are like in Athens and I’ve actually been able to picture what life might be like for them. Before I read this book, I had no idea how Athens people lived, and frankly, couldn’t even fathom how they survived living in such a small town in the middle of nowhere. Sohn’s text definitely opened my eyes a bit, and made me capable to look around and think rhetorically about the group of people around me.

The truth behind Appalachia

Joe Pavlik, Kyle Gullette and myself all had great pleasure in reading Whistlen' and the Crowin' the Women of Appalachia. We all share very similar opinions about this book. We felt a certain way about the people of Appalachia before we read the book. Typical stereotypes were thrown around such as hillbillies and uneducated people.  Katherine Sohn has given us a brand new perspective through this book and the journeys she went on with these women. There is so much more to Appalachia then what first comes to mind. It is unfair and unjust to classify them as hillbillies. They are proud of who they are and are willing to work hard to succeed. For my paper I took a deeper look at the values in which an Appalachian possesses. They share strong family bonds and take pride in modesty. Kyle wrote about how much he appreciated reading this book. To think that a woman has overcome such obstacles to obtain a college degree is truly inspiring. It hit home fore kyle even as he strives to obtain his degree and become the best person he can be in his endeavors. Joe felt he was extremely uneducated about Appalachians before reading. He is extremely thankful for finally understanding what it really means to live in Appalachia and be Appalachian. I think as a group that we all can agree that this book as changed our views on Appalachia. It will make us stop and think in the future before judging a group we are uneducated on.