1989: Powercat logo introduced by football coach Bill Snyder, wanting a new logo for his team. Tom Bookwalter created the logo. This logo is similar to that of the Iowa Hawkeyes, also created by Tom Bookwalter, after Bill Snyder was an assistant coach there.
1997: The current Willie was created, it has gray fur with two white stripes to resemble the Powercat logo. This head includes an internal, electronic cooling fan and weighs five pounds.(Sixth Generation)
From the pen of NJThomas:
Concerned with the small man desire to appear masculine, the K-State faithful determined that naming everything "powercat" simply would not accomplish the goal of being "manlier" than their ku brethren. Therefore, in 1997 those in positions of power created the current iteration of Willie the Wildcat.
"How can we make him not-gay?" they asked themselves.
"Well," one person responded, "what if we made him look like a football player?"
"Hmm, good idea," was the general chorus.
"But wait, our mascot can't simply be a white, tapered, masculine football player, no matter what any of us dreams about at night and then refuses to admit in the morning!" came the call from the minority.
"What do you mean?" asked the crowd.
"Well, I mean, shouldn't he at least vaguely resemble a wildcat?"
"Hazaa!" cried one man who had not yet learned the term "frack." "What if we made him a white, tapered, masculine football player, like the one I painted in this dream journal that DEFINITELY isn't mine, but put a wildcat head on him, perhaps a head that looks like a powercat?"
And thus was Willie the Wildcat born. And lo! even their wet dreams about white, muscular football players (which none of them ever had!) changed to include the new and improved wildcat head.
The End.
There ya go sports fans
