Brutus Buckeye

In 1965 Brutus Buckeye hit the scene when student Ray Bourhis, along with other members of the student organization Ohio Staters Inc., convinced the OSU athletic council of the idea of a Buckeye as Ohio State’s mascot.  At the time, other schools used animals for their mascots and actually had the animals present at the games. Bourhis thought the only animal fitting for Ohio was the buck deer, but bringing an actual buck to games would have been virtually impossible.   He therefore chose a buckeye to serve as the Ohio State mascot. The buckeye was later named Brutus in an all-campus naming contest and began his career as a large fiberglass shell which weighed forty pounds. 

Brutus was the responsibility of the Block 'O' cheering section during the early 1970s.  He was then turned over to the Athletic Department. Since then, Brutus has gone through several updates, and today is a much more lightweight and active part of Ohio State sporting and spirit events.

1965 Brutus	1975 Brutus
1980 Brutus	Current Brutus

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This page was last modified on November 12, 2002
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