The evolution of the beaver mascot

On Jan. 19, in what has become an annual tradition, the J. Denny and Jenny Beaver mascots were “beheaded.” While the Beaver Reveal is a recently new university tradition, there is much more to discover about the history and transformation of Bluffton’s beloved mascots. How was the beaver chosen and how has it evolved over time?

“The beaver was chosen to be Bluffton’s mascot for the first time in the 1926-27 academic year,” said Archives and Special Collections Librarian Carrie Phillips.

Phillips said the first actual mascot一that is, the first time a person was present in a suit一was in the early 1970s. However, the archive photos date back to as early as 1969.

“It’s gone through a few changes in appearance until J. Denny and Jenny Beaver that we have today,” said Phillips. “We’ve always been the beavers, but J. Denny and Jenny are the newest, most current version of the mascot. The previous mascot to that was named Bucky.”

According to the university website, J. Denny Weaver is named after Dr. J. Denny Weaver, Bluffton professor emeritus of religion who taught from 1975-2006. In 2010, the beaver mascot was renamed J. Denny in honor of Weaver who attended nearly every sporting event and served as Bluffton’s faculty athletics representative for more than 20 years. In 2014, Jenny Beaver was introduced as the first female mascot.

According to the 1927 ISTA yearbook, the beaver mascot was chosen the prior football season for five reasons: beavers are small, indefatigable, resourceful, “can build large things from small” and “never [do] worse than [their] ancestors did.”

Another piece of writing called, “Why the Bluffton College Beavers” by former basketball coach Glenn Snyder also gives reasons for the choice in mascot. Specifically, he wrote beavers are strong, interesting, tidy and busy.

As to the secrecy involved with the mascot, Phillips said that tradition didn’t start until J. Denny and Jenny were introduced.

“I think that came about because a staff member here on campus who had been involved with the mascot, played the role of the mascot at Bowling Green State University, and they have a very similar kind of tradition,” said Phillips. “And so this was kind of borrowed from Bowling Green.”

Web content manager Sara Kisseberth, who is also in charge of training the beaver mascots, said the audition process is also entirely new.

“Bucky Beaver was one costume, and whoever wanted to get in the suit for that game could get in the suit,” said Kisseberth. “There was no family to it, there was no training, just put on the suit and go.”

Over the past 90 years, the beaver mascot has gone through many redesigns and rebrandings. Despite this, the mascot has remained a beaver ever since its introduction. Being a unique animal was one reason it was chosen, and to this day Bluffton remains one of the few universities with such a mascot.