Traditions Thursday: Big Red

10/15/2020 12:35:00 PM | General

WKU Athletics will be highlighting traditions on The Hill on Thursdays throughout the fall as part of a feature series called Traditions Thursday. This week the series highlights the lovable and legendary Big Red.

By: Story by: Jack Todd

As one of the most known mascots in the nation, Big Red has been entertaining the WKU fan base since

1979. Big Red embodies school spirit, and its origin is unlike any other mascot.

Before Big Red was created, the former mascot on The Hill was Mr. Hilltopper - a man in a top hat with a

tuxedo, carrying a cane. Future WKU President Gary Ransdell felt this mascot did not gain enough

attention from fans, so he and various WKU administrators decided they would start the development of a

new mascot that they could assign to the university officially.

Ralph Carey, a WKU senior, volunteered to draw a mascot for the school. Carey said he wanted to

create a mascot that was unique and would complement the red towels the fans wave at the games in

the stands. After a few different ideas, he eventually presented the administrators with a furry, red

blob-like figure that would soon steal the hearts of thousands who have visited and attended the

university.

Carey along with the WKU administrators presented the design to then WKU President Donald

Zacharias, who gave approval for them to start creating the costume that would become a figure of

Hilltopper spirit for decades to come.

Big Red made his debut on December 1, 1979, at the first home basketball game for the Toppers, where

then basketball coach Gene Keady unveiled the character by unraveling a big white box wrapped in a red

bow. Carey, the creator of the design, was the first person to wear the suit, and did so the rest of his

college career.

In the first few years following its creation, Big Red won the University Cheerleading Association Key to

the Spirit Award in years 1980, 1981, and 1983. Big Red has made appearances on many well-known

television shows such as, Deal or No Deal, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and Wheel of Fortune. It has been

selected eight times to compete in the Capital One Mascot Challenge out of the 10 years the competition

took place. It was then the first mascot to be inducted to the Capital One Mascot Challenge Hall of Fame

in 2012. That same year, it ranked 10th in the Cheetos top twenty-five Cheesiest College Mascots in the

nation.

Recently, a Twitter poll tournament ran by College Sports on SiriusXM hosted a mascot bracket

challenge that ranked sixty-four of the top mascots in college sports. The mascot would win each poll by

getting more votes than the other in a 24-hour span. At first, WKU’s Big Red was not a part of this

tournament, causing an outrage from WKU fans, so the hosts added Big Red as a 16 seed. Big Red

out-voted every single mascot it was put up against and made it to the championship matchup against

BYU’s Cougar. Big red fell just a few votes shy of winning.

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