UNC Chapel Hill: Rameses

The 1924 team had been in a slump and Carolina fans were looking for something to break the jinx. The Tar Heel sports staff joined the campus in hoping that the new mascot would bring the much-needed luck. 

In 1924 Vic Huggins, UNC's head cheerleader, decided that Carolina needed a mascot like N.C. State's Wolf and Georgia's Bulldog."School spirit was at a peak," Huggins once explained.At the time, Jack Merrit, known to his fans as the "Battering Ram," was a popular member of UNC's football team. The cheerleader went to Charles T. Woollen, the University's Business Manager, and asked him to find twenty-five dollars to buy a ram. They ordered UNC's first mascot from Texas. Rameses the First was shipped in from Texas, arriving just in time to be introduced at a pep rally before the VMI game. Complete with a monogram blanket on his back, Rameses helped make the pep rally one of the school's greatest.

Then the ram was taken to Emerson Field where Carolina was an underdog to a strong VMI team. But, for three quarters the Tar Heels battled the visitors to a scoreless tie.

Late in the fourth period Carolina's Bunn Hackney was called upon to attempt a field goal. Before taking the field he stopped to rub Rameses' head for good luck.

Seconds later Hackney's 30-yard dropkick sailed between the goalposts, giving the Tar Heels a 3-0 victory and a legendary mascot.

Tar Heels rams have traveled everywhere from New York City (for the Carolina-Notre Dame game in 1949) to Jacksonville for Carolina's Gator Bowl appearances.Carolina fans credited the first Rameses' presence for pulling Carolina past VMI, and giving birth to the long line of rams who have witnessed Tar Heel games.

East Carolina: PeeDee the Pirate

The Pirate became associated with East Carolina University in 1983. There was a contest to name the Pirate, where the elementary schools of Pitt County were involved and from the nickname PeeDee the Pirate was derived. The name PeeDee was believed to come from the Pee Dee Rivers that flow through North and South Carolina. Back in the colonial days there were pirates that stayed up and down the rivers. In December of 1985, the Chancellor of ECU decided to drop the nickname PeeDee from the mascot's name, and to only be called the Pirate. This was a result from ECU's student body who said that it was unfair because they did not have any say in naming the mascot. Over the years, people still refer to the mascot as PeeDee "The Pirate".

Pete, by the way, is another story. Pete was an unofficial dog mascot, but only for a few years in the mid-1970s. Pete resembled the dog in the "Little Rascals" movies and carried the reputation of a back-alley brawler with an intense dislike for rams (the mascot at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and wolves (the mascot at NC State University). During Pete's time, the defensive players on the Pirate's football team were called the "wild dogs" because the players performed like a vicious pack of them.

Other mascots have included students dressed as parrots and pirates. A live wildcat was the mascot in 1930 - 31.

Nebraska: Lil Red & Herbie Husker

Lil' Red is the newest mascot of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's sports teams. Lil' Red can be seen dancing on the sidelines of a Nebraska football game at Memorial Stadium or at the Bob Devaney Sports Center during basketball games. ESPN college football commentator Kirk Herbstreit states that Lil' Red is his favorite mascot. Lil' Red is a crowd favorite, and his trick of bouncing on his head is welcomed by all spectators at sporting events.

Lil' Red is known as one of the first in sports mascot inflatable characters. He was created by a company called Signs and Shapes out of Omaha, Nebraska just up the road from the University of Nebraska's home in Lincoln.

Herbie Husker is the oldest current mascot of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's sports teams. Herbie was created by Lubbock, Texas, artist Dirk West and first appeared on the cover of the Husker's media guide in 1974. Soon after, he became the university's official mascot.

Herbie has gone through a few makeovers, the most recent coming before the 2003 college football season. Until 2003 he was dressed in denim coveralls, a red cowboy hat emblazoned with a large N, and has an ear of corn in his pocket. After the 2003 makeover, he now dons a red cowboy hat, red workshirt, blue jeans and workboots. This was done to update the overall appearance of the state's agricultural workers and general public. During halftime of the 2006 Capital One Bowl, Herbie was named National Mascot of the year for 2005.

Lil' Red is one of two mascot at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's athletics teams. Lil' Red is the newest mascot being created for the 1993 season to appeal younger Husker fans and Nebraska Women’s Volleyball by Dr. Barbara Hibner after a state wide contest. He can be seen on the sidelines of a Nebraska football game at Memorial Stadium, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center during basketball games and volleyball games.Lil' Red has won two major awards with the first won being the national championship at the NCA National Mascot Competition in 1999. The second one was an introduction into the 2007 Mascot Hall of Fame, which selected its winners by an online vote. Nebraska’s mascots are two of the most popular figures around the community, as well as the state, and the pair usually generate quite a bit of energy wherever they appear.