RAMESES THE GREAT
In the beginning, Navy had a goat. Actually, the midshipmen had a monkey and a cat before they settled on a ruminant named Bill with which they could honor, or butter up, their commandant via his pet goat.
Army got itself a mule. And it was on.
Gators, tigers, wildcats and wolves, razorbacks
and longhorn steers. For the less fiercely inclined,
an ibis, a deacon, an anthropomorphic buckeye
and a Shetland pony.
For the downright irreverent, an artichoke and a
banana slug. And for the school founded by a beer
maker, “Brewer — the alcoholic beverage mascot
of Vassar College.”
But few if any of those could match the skills
specific to football as could the ram (in the days
before national concern over sports-related
concussions).
When “Rameses The Great” first got his picture
in the Yack, somebody hadn’t heard right, and he
was labeled “The Battling Ram.” The Battering
Ram was the nickname of the hard-hitting fullback Jack Merritt ’ 25, whose gridiron exploits in
1922 inspired Merritt’s classmate and head cheerleader Vic Huggins to go find a sheep with big
When “Rameses The
Great” first got his
picture in the 1925
Yackety Yack,
above, somebody
hadn’t heard right,
and he was labeled
The Battling Ram.
The Battering Ram
was the nickname
of the hard-hitting
fullback Jack Merritt
’ 25, left, whose gridiron exploits in
1922 inspired
Merritt’s classmate
and head cheerleader Vic Huggins
to go find a sheep
with big horns.
Rameses had a
monkey on his back,
right, in 1933. He
must have shaken it
off — starting the
next year, the Heels
reeled off seven
straight winning
seasons.
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