We searched the campus for bobcats — young and old, high and low — and here’s what we found.
Tap Cat
Unveiled in 2009, the bronze Bobcat sculpture quickly became part of a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ sports ritual: Football players tap the cat en route from Underhill Arena to Garcelon Field.
Josh Kuckens/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College
Cat at Bat
In 1996, this live bobcat — owned by a local resident who saved it from a Montana pelt farm — watched a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ baseball game vs. Colby-Sawyer.
Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College
Tuff Cat
Displayed in the Alumni Gym lobby, this taxidermy bobcat shows visiting teams that a tussle is in store. It was donated to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ by the late Marsha Graef, a longtime ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ coach and administrator.
Phyllis Graber Jensen/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College
Top Cat
Perched above the Slovenski Track entry in Merrill Gym, this taxidermy bobcat was donated to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ by Thomas Vail ’58 and Carole Carbone Vail ’58.
“One year we mounted him on a trailer and pulled him in the Alumni Parade at Reunion,” says Carole Vail. “He was a big hit and we of course won first place.”
This cat’s lair was the one-time Alumni House on Campus Avenue until that building was razed to make way for Chu and Kalperis halls.
Jay Burns/ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College
Cabbit?
Here’s a photograph of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Bobcat, circa 1973…perhaps second cousin to Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko?
Joe Gromeski ’74 (left)
This story was first published in the fall 2017 issue of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Magazine.
