News

Pro-Palestine Encampment Represents First Major Test for Harvard President Alan Garber

News

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Condemns Antisemitism at U.S. Colleges Amid Encampment at Harvard

News

‘A Joke’: Nikole Hannah-Jones Says Harvard Should Spend More on Legacy of Slavery Initiative

News

Massachusetts ACLU Demands Harvard Reinstate PSC in Letter

News

LIVE UPDATES: Pro-Palestine Protesters Begin Encampment in Harvard Yard

Eli Eleven Falls to Overcome "Blues" Suffered at "Handsome Dan's" Death

Bulldog Mascot Once Licked John Harvard's Feet As Bulldog Team Did Saturday

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED

"Handsome Dan," the Yale bulldog that was so attractive to the Harvard Lampoon three years ago that they couldn't resist kidnapping him, is dead. He sustained a broken leg three weeks ago and unable to survive the accident because of complications, died last week.

There was no substitute for Handsome Dan on Saturday and Yale ingenuity was unable to make one up. Ducky Pond isn't so keen on mascots anyway, getting mildly irascible during last year's Princeton game when a bulldog that looked remarkably like his own was aired in the Palmer Stadium before the Princeton ganie. It was learned that it belonged to Ed Leader, Yale's crew mentor, and, at that, the score was too close for any degree of comfort.

As a dog he was perfect. He had the right bow to his legs, and sported a face that made mothers bring their children in off the streets. But as a Yale mascot, he was a complete dud.

Bought in 1933 by the Class of 1937, then Freshmen, he was officially baptized Handsome Dan '11, being named after the first Yale bulldog of that name who expired in 1899. He was paid for by small change contributions. He was paraded once before the Yale stands in 1933 and everyone agreed that he was a very handsome, but Yale lost the game, and they lost it to Harvard 19-6.

The loss was attributed immediately to the appearance of the bulldog, but Ducky Pond, Yale's football coach, took him over and except for one trip away, has been the defender of Ducky's back-yard ever since.

Supposedly he disappeared the morning of the Harvard game, but when the opening whistle blow he was there all right. He really was taken the following spring by Harvard's Lampoon and was photographed licking the boots of John Harvard. Some said the picture was a phoney, but everybody got a laugh.

Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.

Tags