Team Name Origin
Wisconsin was dubbed the "Badger State" because of the lead miners who first settled there in the 1820s and 1830s. Without shelter in the winter, they had to "live like badgers" in tunnels burrowed into hillsides.
The badger mascot was adopted by the University of Wisconsin in 1889. His name, "Buckingham U. Badger", a.k.a. "Bucky Badger," was chosen in a contest in 1949. The emblem, a scowling, strutting badger wearing a cranberry-and-white striped sweater, was designed by Art Evans in 1940 and updated in 2003. A live badger from Eau Claire was used at the first few football games that year, but proved to be too fierce to be controlled and was retired to the nearby Henry Vilas Zoo. For a time, the school replaced the live badger with a live raccoon named "Regdab" ("badger" backwards). In 2006, Bucky Badger was inducted as a charter member of the Mascot Hall of Fame's College Division, joining YoUDee from Delaware and Aubie from Auburn.
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