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Winter 2023

Intercollegiate

WSU student holds a t-shirt that reads Believe
Spring 2022

Finding out the meaning of T.A.Y. the hard way

T.A.Y. (Turnaround Year) was more than an acronym for the 2006-07 Cougar basketball team.

“That was not just a slogan for us,” remembers Kyle Weaver, a junior guard on the team. “We really took it to heart. It goes to the things we did to prepare for it to be a turnaround year.”

“We had a lot of tough, grueling workouts,” adds Weaver.

Weaver remembers seeing the director of strength and conditioning, David Lang, when arriving for the day’s workout session; in particular, the runs up the hills of Sunnyside Park in the summer heat.

“We came to the hill and said, ‘What’s about to … » More …

Cougar snarling
Winter 2020

The Butch Brawl

The plan seemed simple enough: launch Kenyon “Ken” Bement into the air at just the right moment so the Cougs could reclaim their cougar.

University of Washington fans had stolen it more than a decade earlier. And Bement and his friends on the Yell Squad decided enough was enough. It was time to bring the stuffed cougar mascot back home to Pullman.

They spread the word through the student section of the stands at Husky Stadium during the rainy, muddy Apple Cup on November 12, 1932. And almost everything went according to plan.

“The basic idea is to pick up Ken—he’s the smallest of the cheerleaders—and, as the Huskies parade by at halftime with the stuffed cougar, he’s going to go up … » More …

Butchmen spelled out by crowd for WSU football game
Winter 2020

Butchmen memories

They got Butch where the cougar needed to be: on the field for football games.

Some forty years after Washington State University ended the tradition of a live cougar mascot and the Butchmen disbanded, alumni share memories of the spirit group.

 

Al Kirkpatrick 
“Our job was to get the cougar to the football games and then, after we would score a touchdown or field goal, we would take him around the track,” recalls retired Colfax dentist Al Kirkpatrick (’75 Zool.), a member of the Butchmen for three years.

One time, he and his fellow Butchmen simply couldn’t get the cougar out of his cage and into its trailer. “We were the ones … » More …

Fall 2020

Butch looks back

From tryouts and training to the big reveal and fortieth anniversary reunion, Butch T. Cougar alumni look back on key moments during their mascot careers.

Tryouts and training

“I didn’t really have to try out other than what I had to do to get on Rally Squad”—which was name all of the mascots of the Pac-10 schools and perform an impression of his favorite cartoon character: Elmer J. Fudd. “And I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, literally and figuratively.”

— Darrell Turner, Butch from 1981 to 1982

“It’s a completely different program now. It’s much more involved than it was … » More …

Fall 2020

Gallery: The antics of Butch T. Cougar

Butch T. Cougar is a WSU celebrity, in the spotlight at games, rallies, parades, and other events both on campus and off, including appearances at elementary schools and the wedding receptions of die-hard alumni.

Here is that legendary icon throughout all his (or her) costumed years at WSU…

Read more about Butch in “Cougar Confidential” and “Behind the Mask: Profiles of Cougs who were Butch T. Cougar.”