If you’ve been to an IU sporting event this year, you may have noticed the appearance of a certain bison sporting candy striped pants.
After an almost 60-year hiatus, the bison returned as IU’s mascot last semester at the season opener football game against Old Dominion University. The mascot has appeared at many football games and sporting events since, spreading school spirit to many IU fans.
But why a bison? While you won’t catch the animal roaming in Bloomington today, there was once an abundance of them in Indiana. The Buffalo Trace Trail was a migratory path created by bison traveling between the land that is now Kentucky and Illinois. Much of the path ran through Indiana, just south of Bloomington. Imagery of the bison is also included on the Indiana state seal, representing the state’s natural heritage and history.
Although the bison hasn’t been IU’s mascot for long, it has a long history on campus and in Bloomington.
Attempts to have a bison mascot first started in 1946. But the attempt was brief, and nothing ever came of it because most students wanted a real live bison on the field, which posed several complications.
The bison mascot was officially adopted at IU 19 years later Oct. 14, 1965, when the IU Student Athletic Board recommended it to the IU Student Senate, which confirmed it. After this adoption of the mascot, there were many students who still advocated for the school to purchase a live bison they could bring to campus for gamedays. However, these attempts once again did not work out due to state and university officials' concerns regarding safety.
Students eventually settled on having a student in a bison costume and were able to get a costume together for the football season’s last home game, IU vs. Purdue, on Nov. 20, 1965.
The costume was upgraded the following year for the 1966 football season to a more realistic one that cost them $1,400, according to IU archives. This costume, however, brought many mobility and visibility challenges for those who wore it. With it being hard for the costume wearer to see out of the bison's nostrils, they often had to be led around the field on a leash by a cheerleader.
After qualifying for its first Rose Bowl in 1967, IU decided to create a new bison head that provided more visibility for the person inside while maintaining some realism. It debuted at the Rose Bowl against USC on Jan 1, 1968, and returned for the 1968 and 1969 regular seasons. Appearances dwindled after that with decreasing fan support.
Although the official mascot disappeared from sporting events in the following years, the bison imagery has lasted in Bloomington since then. One of the oldest restaurants in Bloomington and a popular sports bar, Nick’s English Hut, adopted a version of the logo in the ‘60s and has kept it since.
IU’s Army ROTC, which is one of the oldest college ROTC units in the country, has also used the bison as a symbol for decades. Other instances of the bison on campus include during the 1980s and ‘90s under football head coach Bill Mallory, when the football team had bison stickers on their helmets.
The bison didn’t just reappear officially on campus overnight though; it started with one professor. In 2020 Paul Gutjahr, an IU humanities professor, started up his “bring back the bison” campaign after seeing an opportunity to promote community among students with the mascot. He acquired two bison mascots and made shirts and other merch with the bison to give out to students.
A bison mascot also appeared again during the 2024 and 2025 Little 500s. This mascot was one of Gutjahr’s costumes that he lent to the IU Student Foundation and after some discussion Ryder, the little 500 bison mascot was born.
This story was originally published in the Indiana Daily Student's spring 2026 Source Campus Visitor's Guide.
