"Where is the black Penguin?" my 8 year old son kept asking me as we sat high up among the Rice faithful at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis where Rice was playing Miss State.

At first I thought I misheard what he was saying, as he has some difficulties in his speech from a disability. Perhaps he was referring to something he saw earlier at the Peabody Hotel, where we waited with hundreds of others for the famous Peabody Ducks to descend from the roof and emerge from the elevator to the delighted cheers of the kids assembled in the lobby. (BTW--couldn't help noticing there was one male duck and three female ducks at the Peabody fountain. Would have liked those odds at Rice vs the much higher male to female ratio we had)...but I digress.

"What did you say, son?" I asked him, pointedly.

"Dad, where is the black Penguin? I can't see him!" he insisted.

"Son, Rice is playing Mississippi State, and they are the Bulldogs, not the Penguins. There is no Penguin here, son, " I corrected.

"No, dad. I met him. The black Penguin. Where is he?" he retorted firmly.

"When did you meet a black Penguin, son?" I inquired, thoroughly confused. "Do you mean the Ducks we saw at the hotel downtown?"

"NOOO!" He shouted. "Last night. The black Penguin. We saw the black Penguin! Where is he?"

"Last night? we didn't see any such Penguin last night. We drove all the way from Atlanta and made it to the pep rally downtown Memphis, remember? We saw the Rice cheerleaders, and the Big Head Coach. We saw the Rice Band playing their instruments. We saw the Mississippi State band and their coach. We met some Rice people. I bought you a shirt. We ate some Tootsie Rolls. I held you on my shoulders so you could see. We took a picture with the Rice Owl.....Oh....wait a minute....um, son, you do know that the Rice team is the Owls...I mean...I mentioned that to you, right?"

"Yeah, dad, the Owls, but where is the black Penguin we saw last night? He's not on the field like you said," my son stammered.

"Um...son...the black Penguin IS Sammy the Owl....I mean, he's not a Penguin...he's an Owl...or...er..he's SUPPOSED to be an Owl. I mean, we USED to have a real owl (*see TikiOwl's avatar picture for what a real Owl mascot actually looks like)..but, uh, well...they REALLY need to work on getting that fixed. I'll tell some people I know about it, okay?" I said sheepishly.

"Now, son, if you look down on the field, on the sidelines, to the far right, see the thing moving around down there with the neon yellow socks (I thought we got rid of the yellow when Todd Graham left--but apparently it still lingers yet). THAT's the black Penguin--I mean, it's supposed to be an Owl. I mean it IS an Owl, kind of. And he's navy blue, not black, and our colors are blue and gray, but not yellow, but that's kind of hard to explain right now. Okay?" I meekly finished.

"THERE'S the black Penguin!!!! There HE IS! THANKS, DAD!" he smiled and hugged me.

I hugged him back. "You're welcome son. Happy New Year. Go Rice."

Dr. Karlgaard: This really happened pretty much word for word. If an 8 year old boy, son of an alum, can't tell our mascot is an Owl, then perhaps some, er, adjustments are in order to the mascot costume. My son knows what owls look like. I have several pictures of them around my home. He has a disabilty, but he's smart enough to know what a real owl looks like and can discern them.

TikiOwl, who posts here, has a picture of a real Owl mascot we formerly used, before the "Eugene Levy" Owl, and then the "Drag Queen" Owl. Is it possible to fix this and replace the "Black Penguin" Owl (my son's interpretation of this latest incarnation) with something more closely resembling TikiOwls' Owl. When I show that picture to my son, HE tells ME that is an Owl. Just askin'.

Happy 2014. Go Rice!

Current "Black Penguin" Sammy the Owl Rice Mascot with eye shadow aka "the Black Penguin" as christened by my son:


recent "Original Drag Queen Sammy the Owl--this was reeeeeallly bad:


The previous "Eugene Levy" Sammy the Owl mascot

admittedly, this was not so good either
the Owl that Texas A&M kidnapped- thus leading to Rice's Mascot being named "Sammy the Owl"

story here:
Rice Owl "Sammy" Captured by Texas A&M
http://timeline.centennial.rice.edu/entry/32/

A much better looking Sammy the Owl (Tiki's avatar):


how Sammy the Owl appeared when I was there:

As the last Sammy that wore the old costume, I absolutely love this post.

The current mascot uniform is TERRIBLE. Please change it. My parents even think that the mascot is walking around in drag.

There is a lot on Dr. K's plate but bringing back a decent looking mascot would be a nice first step (and a small simple one) to give Owl fans some hope.

(01-09-2014 11:00 PM)seniorowl Wrote:  As the last Sammy that wore the old costume, I absolutely love this post.

The current mascot uniform is TERRIBLE. Please change it. My parents even think that the mascot is walking around in drag.

I blame RG

I grew to like the "Eugene Levy" owl, who was always very good with my kids. We have taken the aggressive out of the appearance of the mascot. Put it back in there!

War Owls!

And no more yellow!

Aren't most penguins black? But yes, it's awful

(01-10-2014 09:03 AM)Vegas Owl Wrote:  I grew to like the "Eugene Levy" owl, who was always very good with my kids. We have taken the aggressive out of the appearance of the mascot. Put it back in there!

War Owls!

And no more yellow!

The "Eugene Levy" owl was certainly better than the current one.
It would have been better with stern eyebrows.

The Owl of Athena that is the basis for all of these owls has yellow eyes.
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/little-owl-...octua/wire

I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

Yeah, fix the mascot.

We're nearing the end of JK's "90-day outline", and I'm curious what will come from that.

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

(01-10-2014 05:18 PM)JSA Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

Long time ago, but as I remember...

four men's colleges (women were exempt in those sexist days), so each one had a quarter. Five sections in Hanszen college, so each section had a three minute stint, football clock. Back then we had the light hazing called Freshman Orientation, so the sophs kept track of whether or not you actually showed up. Maybe Old Sammy could amplify and correct, as he was a fellow Hanszen frosh with me, section 3.

(01-09-2014 11:00 PM)seniorowl Wrote:  As the last Sammy that wore the old costume, I absolutely love this post.

The current mascot uniform is TERRIBLE. Please change it. My parents even think that the mascot is walking around in drag.

If money's tight, they could just change the head and keep the body. Just please, please give us a mascot that looks like it belongs at a football game and not at Disneyworld.

(01-10-2014 05:54 PM)Klobasnek Wrote:  

(01-09-2014 11:00 PM)seniorowl Wrote:  As the last Sammy that wore the old costume, I absolutely love this post.

The current mascot uniform is TERRIBLE. Please change it. My parents even think that the mascot is walking around in drag.

If money's tight, they could just change the head and keep the body. Just please, please give us a mascot that looks like it belongs at a football game and not at Disneyworld.

I'd be happy with one who looks like he belongs at Disneyworld and not a drag show in the French Quarter.

(01-10-2014 05:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:18 PM)JSA Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

Long time ago, but as I remember...

four men's colleges (women were exempt in those sexist days), so each one had a quarter. Five sections in Hanszen college, so each section had a three minute stint, football clock. Back then we had the light hazing called Freshman Orientation, so the sophs kept track of whether or not you actually showed up. Maybe Old Sammy could amplify and correct, as he was a fellow Hanszen frosh with me, section 3.

This is consistent with my memories of Hanszen 1972.

(01-10-2014 05:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:18 PM)JSA Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

Long time ago, but as I remember...

four men's colleges (women were exempt in those sexist days), so each one had a quarter. Five sections in Hanszen college, so each section had a three minute stint, football clock. Back then we had the light hazing called Freshman Orientation, so the sophs kept track of whether or not you actually showed up. Maybe Old Sammy could amplify and correct, as he was a fellow Hanszen frosh with me, section 3.

That sounds right, though I don't recall all the details. The vocal was "Ooooh Sammy" repeated endlessly.

(01-11-2014 07:27 AM)Old Sammy Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:18 PM)JSA Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

Long time ago, but as I remember...

four men's colleges (women were exempt in those sexist days), so each one had a quarter. Five sections in Hanszen college, so each section had a three minute stint, football clock. Back then we had the light hazing called Freshman Orientation, so the sophs kept track of whether or not you actually showed up. Maybe Old Sammy could amplify and correct, as he was a fellow Hanszen frosh with me, section 3.

That sounds right, though I don't recall all the details. The vocal was "Ooooh Sammy" repeated endlessly.

This ritual died by the time I was on campus in the mid-to-late '70s.

(01-11-2014 09:29 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(01-11-2014 07:27 AM)Old Sammy Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:47 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 05:18 PM)JSA Wrote:  

(01-10-2014 12:35 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  I am all for updating the Sammy. Just don't go back to the huge blue plastic one I had to bow to for a quarter of each game back in 1963.

The whole quarter?

I saw some owl bowing at a game in '78, but it was just for a few minutes.

Long time ago, but as I remember...

four men's colleges (women were exempt in those sexist days), so each one had a quarter. Five sections in Hanszen college, so each section had a three minute stint, football clock. Back then we had the light hazing called Freshman Orientation, so the sophs kept track of whether or not you actually showed up. Maybe Old Sammy could amplify and correct, as he was a fellow Hanszen frosh with me, section 3.

That sounds right, though I don't recall all the details. The vocal was "Ooooh Sammy" repeated endlessly.

This ritual died by the time I was on campus in the mid-to-late '70s.

I remember the Sammy figure being on the sidelines during that time, but only remember seeing any actual bowing once.

We bowed my freshman year, but it was pretty much gone by the time I graduated. We had a home game against maybe aTm where we took the lead late, and suddenly out of the stands appeared a large number of what I'm guessing were freshmen, bowing feverishly. It worked, we held on to win.

my recollection is that each college took turns and bowed during a quarter during the games. certainly that way my frosh year in 67.

(01-12-2014 06:47 PM)ricex Wrote:  my recollection is that each college took turns and bowed during a quarter during the games. certainly that way my frosh year in 67.

My freshman year (1956) was the last year of "Freshman Guidance", a program that was basically hazing. The College System came into being in April of 1957, and prior to that time, the freshmen (and women) were divided into "sections", loosely based upon whether you lived on or off campus. At that time, there were four dorms - East, West, North, and South. Jones, which would first become the female college, as the male:female ratio was about 4:1, was not completed at the start of the year and the female "on campus" students all resided in apartments on Banks Street.

Sections rotated in bowing to Sammy throughout the game, but it was almost continuous. If a Freshman did not come to the game and bow with his Section, he felt it on Monday night - literally.

Each "Section" was led by a group of sophomores, some of whom may have had a rough time during their "Guidance" and wanted retribution. Some of the ordeals were minor - males couldn't shave unless they were in ROTC, in which case they had to shave their legs. Females had to wear pinafores (shorts and jeans for female college students hadn't made the scene yet). We all had to wear beanies.

Some of the Section events were relatively benign - "Ice Races" put each of the male students, stripped down to their briefs/boxers, sitting on a block of ice and racing fellow frosh in a dash. The events elevated from there. There was a Tire Grab, in which a greased tire was placed in the middle of a square and four Sections would run out and try to pull the tire back to their line. There was also a Greased Pole Climb where a flag was placed on top of a pole, the pole greased, and then all the Sections sent out to try to climb the pole and capture the flag.

Some of the more sadistic Sophomores would "spank" the errant Freshmen with a broom on the Monday night Section Meetings. For many of the Freshman, it was their first encounter with physical beatings and some left school because of it. Tragically, Freshman Guidance ended when two sophomores died of asphyxiation when they tried to climb the inside of the Campanile to hang a tire for their Section from the top.

Scholarship athletes had their own "Guidance" that was even more physical. One of my good friends living on second floor of West Hall (the old part of Hanszen) heard a scratching on his screen (the dorms were not air conditioned then, either) and a freshman football player had scaled the bricks to evade a whipping and asked to be let in the window. My friend complied and hid the young tackle under his bed. When the upper class football players knocked on the door to look for the freshman, my friend said that he had left and run up the stairs.

I am glad that those events are no longer part of the Rice atmosphere. Although it may have brought a class somewhat closer together, it did nothing to help a freshman to adjust to college life, to prepare for class or life, or anything else. The college system took hold and has become the "family" to whom a new college student belongs. There are many advantages to the college system that are not apparent to one who has not lived under the previous system, but, believe me, it is a better system by far. I have classmates who have been very successful in life but still do not like Rice because of the way they were treated during "Guidance". Even more disturbing may be the ones who left because of - or at least in part of - "Guidance" who would have not only benefited from a Rice education but gone on to make a significant difference in the world.