", The crowd took up the cry: "Come on, Baehr-cat! The win brought the bearcat recognition at The Capital One Bowl that year, as well as won the school 25,000 dollars from Capital One. The University of Cincinnati Bearcats were … Zoo staff are asking visitors to suggest a name for the young bearcat. It’s about a 3 hour tryout. But first she needs a name. “You get acclimated to it, and eventually it really doesn’t bother you” Silverstein says as he accepted then it was part of the job. M — “I’m UC’s #1 cheerleader. Cincinnati… Thinking of the worst moment was a difficult task for Silverstein who remembers his time as the bearcat as always being a good time, however, he did come up with one. I had nothing to do with mascot stuff in high school. They even bring the bearcat to campus on some occasions. We bring the Bearcat to mainstreet to distribute flyers.” According to him, the try out is around three hours and no more than 10 people show up and upon being selected as a mascot, you learn the ropes through observation and following around someone your senior. “I’m UC’s #1 cheerleader,” he says, “When you walk into a football stadium with like 35,000 people, that’s like lighting running through your body.” This electric exciting feeling is energized by the sight of an entire stadium of fans that are propelled by the goal of another big win. Near record high temperatures. University of Cincinnati announced the name of its new mascot, a baby bearcat named Lucille, at Saturday’s homecoming football game at Nippert Stadium. Winds light and variable. We get about $600 a semester. © 2020 www.cincinnati.com. With Lucy’s retirement in 2019, a new mascot, Lucille, has been chosen to become the official live mascot of the University of Cincinnati. During his freshman year, a roommate encouraged him to try out and reminded him a day before via Facebook. You never dress in front of anyone but yourself or other mascots, and cheer leaders. Bearcat fans can expect to see Lucille at basketball games as she gets older, zoo officials say. “One is supposed to be somewhat warm and fuzzy to appeal to children – and that’s more related to apparel sales – and then there’s the one that’s ferocious in a way that lends itself to athletic teams. You kinda learn how to be the mascot through observation, so when we pick someone new we have them follow us, observe, we start putting them into the suit a little bit, and keep adding more and more time as they go. In fact, being the bearcat even played a major role in his current job. During the second half of that hard-fought football game, UC cheerleader Norman "Pat" Lyon, building on the efforts of fullback Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, created the chant: "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side. Sometimes there’s none for 3 weeks, it just depends on how marketing comes in.”, M — “No we don’t practice. He’s been praised, cheered on, and put on a pedestal by thousands of his fans who continue to feed off of his contagious energy. Lucille was born at the Nashville Zoo, and she'll be 20 pounds when she's all grown up. A baby bearcat is revealed at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Friday, Oct. 18, 2019, in Cincinnati. The Bearcat Through The Years: UC DIGITAL ARCHIVES Mascot Stories (UC Magazine): 1 2 Cincinnati Zoo Page THE HISTORY OF A NICKNAME. This item has been corrected to show that retired mascot’s name is Lucy, not Lily. M — “No, not here. I wanna know about like how you apply, like how you found this. There was an error processing your request. In an interview with the current mascot out of his uniform, he revealed his experience as the Bearcat. The mascot revealed his confidential identity as we met at Starbucks to ask him some questions of interest. The Story of Basketball at the University of Cincinnati.”, “I probably spent 40 to 50 hours reading old newspapers at a microfilm station in Langsam Library,” Hand said. “People will be rude to you, they’ll kick you, and throw things at you” he even admits that how exhausting that the job can be. “Obviously, being the bearcat gave me the slight edge there.” Second would be witnessing the football team’s climb to victory in the climatic Pittsburg game his senior year, and witnessing the heart stopping winning pass on the goal line that finished out their perfect season. Before attending University of Cincinnati, I didn’t either. The UC Bearcat. “We’re hoping as we get into the beginning of the basketball season, she’ll be able to come out to Fifth Third Arena for games as Lucy did before,” Zoo Director Thane Maynard said last month. I have a lot of school spirit and there’s a lot of opportunities you get to participate in.”. The cartoon, by John "Paddy" Reece, depicted a bedraggled Kentucky Wildcat being chased by a creature labeled "Cincinnati Bear Cats.".