Butler Bulldogs - Butler Mascots

Butler Mascots

Butler University was founded as North Western Christian by Ovid Butler in 1855. He choose "Christians" as the school mascot. Sometime after the school had been rename in honor of its founder, Butler was suffering a poor football season in 1919. As losses mounted, people grew wary of the "Christians" nickname. Before a big game against the rival Franklin "Baptists", the Butler Collegian was trying to conceive of a way to fire people up when "Shimmy", a bulldog owned by one of the fraternities, wondered into their office. Shimmy inspired cartoonist George Dickson to draw a bulldog labeled "Butler" taking a bite out of John The Baptist. Butler lost the game, but the nickname "Bulldogs" stuck.

Eventually, the bulldog was selected as the official mascot of the university. For many years, Butler had unofficial live bulldog mascots that kept by various fraternities. In 2000, Butler Blue became the school's first official live mascot. To date, there have been three dogs to carry the name "Blue", the university's primary color.

• Butler Blue I (September 23, 2000 - ) - one NCAA Sweet 16 appearance (2003) and two Horizon League McCafferty All-Sports Championships (2002, 2003). Term of service: 2000–2003
• Butler Blue II (March 27, 2004 - ) - Two NCAA National Championship appearances (2010 & 2011), three Sweet 16 appearances (2007, 2010, 2011) and three Horizon League McCafferty All-Sports Championships (2007, 2010, & 2011). Term of service: 2004–present
• Butler Blue III (December 23, 2011 - ) - currently in training

In addition to "Blue," a person in bulldog costume also performs as "Hink" for various Butler University athletic and university events.