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Oklahoma Sooners once had live canine mascot

By Wesley Coburn

NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Mascot of the Oklahoma Sooners performs before a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2012 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Fighting Irish defeated the Sooners 30-13. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NORMAN, OK - OCTOBER 27: Mascot of the Oklahoma Sooners performs before a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on October 27, 2012 in Norman, Oklahoma. The Fighting Irish defeated the Sooners 30-13. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Did you know the Oklahoma Sooners once had a live canine mascot on the sidelines during football games?

We discovered this interesting bit of dog history while Wes was prowling through a used bookstore in Tulsa during the spring, from an early 1980s University of Oklahoma yearbook.

From 1915 to 1928, a vaguely Bulldog-looking dog called Mex roamed the sidelines at all OU football and baseball games, wearing a red sweater with a big O on the side.

As the yearbook stated, “His main job was to keep stray dogs from roaming the field during the game in the says when the football field was more accessible to non-ticketholders.”

This sounds really bizarre to modern ears, but at that time ball games very likely were played essentially in cow pastures, as the classic Andy Griffith monologue put it, and the Cincinnati Reds once lost a game due to a stray dog, so Mex’s presence must have been necessary.

The Oklahoma Sooners once had a canine mascot roaming the sidelines.

According to a 2014 story in the Norman Transcript, Mex was once accidentally left behind at the train station in Arkansas City, Kansas, following a road loss to the Drake Bulldogs, and lived in the Kappa Sigma fraternity house during his time on campus.

Mex died on April 30, 1928, and the campus shut down entirely on May 2 to observe his funeral. Mex’s remains are buried underneath Owen Field at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma  Memorial Stadium, much like Texas A&M does with its various Reveille Collies.

Today the Oklahoma Sooners mascots are the traditional costumed type, a pair of palomino horses called Sooner and Boomer, and the Sooner Schooner, a Conestoga wagon that drives out on to the field before each game.

Rather confusingly, Oklahoma Sooners basketball has off and on throughout its history had its own costumed mascot, a brown dog called Top Daug.

The No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners took care of the Iowa State Cyclones 28-21 this Saturday in a nationally-televised Fox matchup, improving to 10-1 (7-1) and locking themselves into the Big 12 Conference Championship Game in the process.

The regular season comes to a close on Saturday, November 27 with Bedlam on the road in Stillwater at Boone Pickens Stadium in a nationally-televised ABC contest against the No. 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys.

Next. Baby Yoda pet pajamas on sale now at Shop Disney. dark

For more OU Sooners news, opinions and more, see our FanSided Network sister site Stormin’ Norman for all the latest.

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