Why is the gopher the minnesota mascot

We stumbled onto the gopher-squirrel debate after a reader asked Curious Minnesota how Minnesota became the Gopher State. The question was a top vote-getter at the State Fair, and we decided to nail down the answer as part of our community-driven reporting project fueled by questions from inquisitive readers.

Lori Williamson of the Minnesota Historical Society figures a political cartoon from likely inspired the moniker. Minnesotans overwhelmingly agreed, voting 25, in favor to 6, against. Paul artist R. Sweeny apparently wasn't a fan of the plan and drew a cartoon depicting nine legislators as striped rodents with human heads pulling a railroad car full of bond holders, Williamson said.

The detailed image includes a devil as the pied piper. Although Minnesota eventually became known as the Gopher State, the gopher — or the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, for that matter — is not listed among the state's symbols. The loon, monarch butterfly and walleye, however, are among those designated by law. The pocket gopher, which is native to Minnesota, is a medium-size rodent with huge claws on its front feet — a nice asset for burrowing into the ground, said Lori Naumann with the Nongame Wildlife Program at Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources.

Sharon Jansa, who knows all about rodents, confirmed that. She's a University of Minnesota professor of ecology, evolution and behavior and curator of the Bell Museum's mammal collection. Although chipmunks have stripes, she believes Minnesota's rodent mascots are actually thirteen-lined ground squirrels, which also are found in Minnesota. As for the striped-tail mascots: "That's just artistic license," she said.

Stripes or no stripes, it could be that the Minnesota gopher mascots aren't trying to be one rodent or another. When she looks at Goldy, she doesn't see a squirrel or a gopher. The warm and fuzzy-looking Goldy has had to stand up against more fierce-sounding Big Ten mascots such as the Wisconsin Badgers, Northwestern Wildcats and the Michigan Wolverines.

One quick note about why Goldy is golden. In Bernie Bierman, trying to gain a competitive advantage like he needed it changed the teams jerseys to match the color of the football; gold. Legendary journalist Hasley Hall caught on and coined the term "Golden Gophers". Homecoming pins, sculptures and other materials in the s often featured a gopher:.

In the s the U of M commissioned George Grooms an Iowa native smdh to draw an official mascot for marketing. And this guy was born:. After the three players on the U of M basketball team were accused of rape the U tried to clean up its image I know that story doesn't really make sense, but it also sounds exactly like something the U of M would do. The result is the current Goldy:. Goldy the mascot has an equally dramatic evolution beginning in the s, you can read about it here which is taken from the book the U of M Marching Band Centennial Book, Minnesota Hats Off to Thee, and is almost word for word Goldy's Wikipedia page You can also browse the facebook album put together by the U with some great mascot pictures from days of yesteryear.

Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. The second is that Sweeney wanted to choose a rodent, but not a rodent considered terrible, like a rat. Instead, he chooses a more palatable rodent so as not to be offended. The cartoon became so popular that it eventually stuck with Minnesota.

Goldy Gopher started his career at the University of Minnesota in Fairchild the Gopher will turn 52 this year.

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