A look at Marshall's Mascot History

(H/t to the Parthenon)

It’s about time.  A new Marco was unveiled this past weekend, in front of 25,000 fans, during Marshall’s Homecoming football game against UTSA.  After several years of complaints, Marshall University left it up to fans to vote on what they wanted. The voting took place over the summer and fans could vote for if they wanted the same Marco, if they wanted the old Marco, or if they wanted a complete makeover. Of the 3,187 votes casted, 76 percent voted to bring the old Marco back. However, my first thought was ‘how did we get the old Marco anyhow?’

Deciding what to call the team
In the late 1800’s Marshall went by the Indian’s and it wasn’t until 1903 when the team started wearing green and white and started going by “Big Green”.

In the 1920s the Marshall University student paper decided to have judges decide the name. John Marshall and the Huntington Advertiser wanted ‘the Boogiecats’ to replace the name ‘Big Green’. However Duke Ridgley, the Herald-Dispatch’s sports editor wanted the team to be called ‘the Thundering Herd’ after Zane Grey’s Novel, ‘The Thundering Herd’, since buffalo did indeed used to roam the Ohio Valley. You can guess which side won. Sorry John Marshall.

The ‘Thundering Herd’ fight was not over after that. In 1958 the students had another vote for a name change. The vote was between the Thundering Herd, Big Green, and the Green Gobblers. Big green won, however many still referred to the team as the Herd, so another vote was held. In 1964 fans could vote between: Thundering Herd, Big Green and the Rams (Sam would be the mascot).  On January 5, 1965 over 85 percent of the voters picked Thundering Herd.
May Sam the Ram, the Green Gobblers, Boogiecats, Indians and Judges rest in Peace.

Marco over the years
Marco started as the team mascot in the 1930’ss. The first Marco was a four-legged paper mache’ in a homecoming parade skit, and over the years it progressed to a Macro in a full football uniform and later in the 1980’s he sported a vest.

In the early 1970’s Marshall added a real bison to its mascots. However this buffalo only make two appearances at a football game. In 1971, a game’s second half was delayed because the real Marco got loose on the field and his handlers could not gain control. He was then retired and, sadly, spent the rest of his years on display at the Camden park petting Zoo.   Marshall also had a “Marsha” female mascot during the Women’s Rights Movement, however she didn’t last past the 80s.

As the turn of the century came around though, a marco was created which looks like the one we know today. (for a week). He was loved by all and was a hit at sporting events. Sadly in 2008 the Alumni Association raised money to have a new Marco made. He was revealed in the 2008 homecoming game loss vs. UCF. I am not saying it was his fault the team lost, but…his new appearance was highly distracting. He had small feet, track pants, muscles, long nail…hoof things, and a head that looked like a moose. Children would cry when ‘moose’ Marco would come around.

Thankfully, we can put that Marco behind us and enjoy having our classic Marco at the games to pump up the crowd and cheer on the team.