Did You Know
Photo by BU Photo Services
It's a dog-meet-dog world. In this 1956 Homecoming publicity shot, BU's living mascot, Gulliver I, sniffs warily at the costumed BU Terrier. "This slightly frightened, one-foot-high, ten-pound, seven-month-old pup joined the squad during the West Virginia football rally and was driven in his own private car to the game," reports the Hub yearbook. Gulliver I was a cheerleading fixture at home games — "wearing a cute little sweater," says former cheerleader Nancy "Taffy" Slye (SAR'53) — and was later replaced by Touchdown, in 1962.
Also replaced was the rather grotesque costumed Terrier: in 1983, Darryl Wright (COM'86) suggested a new Terrier mascot to spark fan support for BU athletics. "I wanted to make the new mascot friendly, yet fierce," says Wright, a Toronto native with experience in ice skating shows and costume design. Rhett debuted that year at halftime on Nickerson Field during the BU-Bucknell football game.