The Long History Of Yale's Mascot, Handsome Dan, Explained

The idea for Handsome Dan began when Class of 1892 member Andrew B. Graves saw a bulldog sitting at a local establishment's storefront. An athlete on the crew and football teams, Graves bought him from a blacksmith for $5 and dubbed the canine Handsome Dan. The pet became a mainstay at football and baseball games, said Yale news. The furry mascot walked across the field before collegiate battles to offer good luck and confidence to the participants. Eventually Graves graduated and left for England, but he left Dan I (see above photo) with William Leon Graves, the younger brother of Andrew.

When the first Handsome Dan died in 1898, his body was preserved and sealed into a glass case. He still resides in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium as "the perpetual guardian of the treasures which attest to generation of Yale athletic glory," said former Yale history professor Stanton Ford.

The Ivy League university would not replace the mascot until 1933 when the class of 1937 gathered pennies from students to purchase another bulldog named Dour Doruna or Handsome Dan II. Now Yale University has their 19th Handsome Dan. Other canines have celebrated major campus events, such as Bingo, who became the only female bulldog to represent the school, to commemorate when women were allowed admittance to the institution in 1969.

The Handsome Dan name may have a legacy at Yale, but a pup named Harper might have been the first canine the campus embraced.

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