Classless Willie through the years.
Willie the Wildcat
The Willie tradition began in 1947, and since then, his image and role have undergone several changes.
Adrea Simmons Andersen '55 played K-State's first mascot at the September 1947 football game against Oklahoma A&M. She dressed in a red-brown wildcat costume with black stripes and a tail.
Several decades before this, beginning as early as 1922, a real wildcat named Touchdown, supplied the mascot symbolism at games. And, from 1906 to 1909, Boscoe, a black Labrador, represented K-State at baseball and football games.
In the 1960s, Sigma Chi fraternity members played Willie. Later that decade, the mascot looked like Mickey Mouse, and K-State wanted a new image.
Jim Hagan '50, '66, '68, a sculptor and artist, created a newer, meaner-looking Willie. Hagan made two Willie heads out of coyote and wolf hair. The first head lasted from 1967 until 1980. The second lasted until 1993.
In 1993, the Kaw Valley Catbacker Club donated the fifth Willie head. The new head was rounder and made out of brown artificial fur.
Willie received a face-lift again in fall 1997.
This Willie head, still used today, has gray fur with two white stripes to resemble the PowerCat logo. The current head weighs five pounds and features an electronic cooling fan.
For more than 50 years, one tradition with Willie has remained the same: the identity of Willie is still kept a secret.
