This article yesterday in the WSJ reminded me that I once heard that we used to have a live wolf as a mascot. Can anyone confirm this or provide any other information? Pictures would be awesome!

Animal House: College Mascots Get Luxury Digs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118713865671897991.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular

8/16/2007 9:06:42 AM

i'm not sure, but it would be cool if we had a pack of wolves in a nice area.

8/16/2007 9:41:55 AM

^Why? So they can maul and rip the limbs off of the opposing mascot?

8/16/2007 9:46:58 AM

did you even try google?

8/16/2007 9:47:41 AM

Yes we had a couple of wolves...and evidently a coyote once.

Quote :

" A Mascot History Courtesy: NC State By Tim Peeler The Wolfpack was first mentioned in association with NC State athletics in 1921, when an anonymous letter-writer to the school newspaper mentioned that some of the school’s football players were as unruly as a pack of wolves. The name stuck for football. All other athletics teams, until 1946, were called the “Red Terrors.” At first, football cheerleaders used a live Minnesota timber wolf named “State” as the team mascot, but wolves are generally reclusive and not all that fond of human beings. “State” was eventually sold to a traveling animal show. In July 1946, Chancellor J.W. Harrelson asked students to consider a new nickname for its athletics team, noting that German U-boats were called “Wolfpacks” and the name had developed some very negative connotations during World War II. “The only thing lower than a wolf is a snake in the grass,” Harrelson said. But the contest to find a new nickname — which offered six season passes for football as a prize — drew some rather uninspiring entries: The North Staters, the Cardinals, the Hornets, the Cultivators, the Cotton Pickers and the Pine-Rooters (a down-east name for pigs), the Auctioneers and the Calumets. The latter two were in reference to tobacco auctions that had been common for nearly 200 years in the state. In the end, there were more letters in support of retaining the Wolfpack nickname than anything else, which inspired a mechanical engineering student named Ira Helms to build a seven-foot tall mechanical robot with size 16 feet and a 120-inch chest. It was hollow inside and Helms climbed inside the contraption for the 1946 football game between NC State and Wake Forest. It was so hot that Helms refused to climb inside again, but the mascot was considered a lucky charm during the team’s 8-2 regular season, which earned the school its first bowl bid. The Wolfpack lost to Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl, 34-13, with the mechanical wolf in attendance. But it was retired after the season. In 1947, all athletics teams adopted the nickname “Wolfpack,” and cheerleaders continued to use live wolves, nicknamed “Lobo,” when they could be found, as mascots for football. In 1966, a new wolf, Lobo III, was purchased to commemorate the opening of Carter Stadium. However, following the season, an NC State zoology professor named Fred Barkalow discovered that Lobo III was actually a coyote, not a wolf. In the fall of 1967, the Wolfpack was called the “Kool Kyoties,” a name that was popularized by Sports Illustrated following the Wolfpack’s stunning upset of No. 2-ranked Houston. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, however, the cheerleading team also used a student in a wolf costume to rally the crowds at football and basketball games. He was called “Mr. Wuf.” When the school added women’s athletics in 1975, a female wolf mascot was introduced as well. She was called “Ms. Wuf.” In 1981, in a pregame ceremony before NC State played Wake Forest in basketball, Mr. and Ms. Wuf were married by the Demon Deacon at midcourt of Reynolds Coliseum. Even though they recently celebrated their 25th anniversary, the couple remains pupless."

8/16/2007 9:48:41 AM

Quote :

"In July 1946, Chancellor J.W. Harrelson asked students to consider a new nickname for its athletics team, noting that German U-boats were called “Wolfpacks” and the name had developed some very negative connotations during World War II. “The only thing lower than a wolf is a snake in the grass,” Harrelson said."

Making these sort of comments will get the crappiest building on campus named after you.

8/16/2007 10:01:59 AM

some interesting stuff in that Peeler article...I would've loved to ave seen the cheerleaders with the timber wolf "State" on the sidelines

8/16/2007 10:03:52 AM

that would be ill having a pack of wolves at carter finley and watch them eat a raw ram before we play unc

8/16/2007 10:05:35 AM

fuck a dead ram. I want to see the pack of wolves run onto the field after the ram, kill it and eat it at the 50 yard line.

8/16/2007 10:29:11 AM

in other words, a raw ram

8/16/2007 10:43:07 AM

Fuck it... five robotic wolves that emerge from regions corners of Carter-Finley that converge on the 50 yard line and then combine to form one gigantic defender of the universe: Wolftron!

8/16/2007 10:52:48 AM

^ WINNER!

8/16/2007 10:53:49 AM

the NC State Pine-Rooters, has a good ring to it don't you think?

8/16/2007 10:58:11 AM

Bobby Mills...get us a live wolf

8/16/2007 11:55:10 AM

8/16/2007 12:23:40 PM

Awww, they remain pupless. So sad.

8/16/2007 12:32:38 PM

^ i can't believe they were "married' by a freaking demon...

seriously...

who thought that would be a good idea?

8/16/2007 2:38:00 PM

cause he's also a deacon

8/16/2007 2:41:54 PM

I would love to have a pack of wolves on the field during the game. We need to be careful though The Georgia Bulldog almost bite a visiting player one game.

8/16/2007 2:45:54 PM

they had a football team once too


-zing!

8/16/2007 3:02:45 PM

Quote :

"Making these sort of comments will get the crappiest building on campus named after you."

8/16/2007 3:07:14 PM

Quote :

"We need to be careful though The Georgia Bulldog almost bite a visiting player one game. "

paging michael vick.....

8/16/2007 5:33:39 PM

this summer gave me an opportunity to catch up on some reading...

here's a great book i just finished.

8/16/2007 6:21:19 PM

if safety's a problem with a real wolf, let's use a czechoslovakian wolfdog, instead.



or twenty of them.

8/16/2007 6:45:08 PM

Quote :

"wolves are generally reclusive and not all that fond of human beings. “State” was eventually sold to a traveling animal show. "

Ridiculous

8/16/2007 6:59:03 PM

Quote :

"Making these sort of comments will get the crappiest building on campus named after you."

Quote :

"Awww, they remain pupless. So sad."

some of the best sarcasm are in random threads.

8/16/2007 9:44:19 PM

Paging Canis Lupis

8/17/2007 1:10:02 AM

Lobo lived on a farm near Garner, close to Holland's United Methodist Church.

9/2/2007 7:46:22 PM

There is a photo that I think is from an old Agromeck yearbook and now is in this NC State Picture History...let me see if I can post it, i've never posted an image before

Just go look at the only picture in my photo gallery, it's there...


[Edited on September 3, 2007 at 3:00 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on September 3, 2007 at 3:01 PM. Reason : ..]

9/3/2007 3:00:03 PM

here ya go...

9/3/2007 3:37:02 PM