Whether for a student, alumni or avid sports fan, Brutus Buckeye – mascot for The Ohio State University – is a face few can forget.
Fewer than 100 Ohio State students have “donned the head” of the university’s mascot since his first appearance during the 1965 Minnesota game, says Ray Sharp, head mascot coach for the OSU Athletic Department. And despite several redesigns and costume changes in that nearly 60-year period, the spirit of Brutus remains the same.
“There’s a certain magic that Brutus is able to portray,” says Sharp, who was Brutus from 2011-2013. “He has this natural ability – when you do kind of tap into that and bring that to life – to really just very easily make people happy.”
Humble Beginnings
However recognizable on the field, Brutus didn’t get his start in OSU Athletics, says Tracy Stuck, director of community partnerships and innovations. Ray Bourhis, a member of the
Staters student organization, came up with the idea as a student project in 1965 and enlisted the help of his then girlfriend, Sally (Huber) Lanyon, to create the mascot.
“If you think about the birthplace of Brutus Buckeye, it was on the lawn of the Pi (Beta) Phi house on 15th and Indianola,” Stuck says.
The first Brutus was gigantic and carefully crafted out of papier-mâché. Due to the time period and lack of security at games, Stuck says, the Ohio Staters were able to walk Brutus right into the stadium during halftime.
“Actually, some people complained because he was blocking their view,” she says. “But when he went to leave, the whole crowd started chanting, ‘We want the mascot!’”
Following his first appearance, Brutus got his official name from Kerry Reed, who won a campus-wide contest. The mascot also underwent several redesigns, including a large fiberglass costume with the ability to turn Brutus’ eyebrows downward and his smile upside down when the opposing team scored, Stuck says.
Ohio Staters eventually gave the project away, and for more than 20 years, Brutus was housed with the Block O student organization. It wasn’t until the 1974 Rose Bowl that Brutus was adopted by the OSU Athletic Department.
“The students in Block O didn’t have enough money to send Brutus to the 1974 Rose bowl,” Stuck says. “At that point they went to (the department of) athletics.”
A campus-wide campaign, signed petitions and a feature in the Columbus Dispatch eventually forced the department to agree to take Brutus. That came with the condition that the department would continue to oversee him going forward.
Faces of Brutus
Most people are used to seeing Brutus dancing and performing cool tricks at football and basketball games. However, the mascot schedule is much busier than just those athletic contests.
Each year, Brutus makes more than 300 appearances at events including sports, Pelotonia, hospital visits, birthday parties, weddings and mitzvahs.
“Anywhere where people feel the need to have Brutus there to help enhance their event, we want to be there,” Sharp says. “Student Life, any of their clubs or anything going on with them, we want to be there and show support.”
Brutus attends a large number of student organization meetings and appears in many programs around campus, including Columbus Welcome, Ohio Union Activities Board (OUAB) programming, freshmen orientation, Welcome Week and move-in day.
Donning the Head
One of the most fascinating things about Brutus is that he could be your classmate, roommate or friend all year, and you’d never know until they graduate the program.
Playing Brutus is one of the highest student leadership roles on campus, Stuck says. Students who have been Brutus have gone on Today and even met the president of the United States without anyone knowing about their experiences.
“It’s funny because, you know, you’ll be roommates with somebody who’s donned the head for years, and you’d never know it until they posted on Instagram,” Sharp says.
Tryouts for Brutus take place each spring, and students must be enrolled full-time at OSU’s main campus to participate. During tryouts, Sharp says, the coaches look for abilities including improvisation, coordination with props and emulation of Brutus’ mannerisms.
In an effort to be one of the first fully funded mascot programs in the country, Linda Meeks started the in 2013 in hopes of allowing students in the mascot program to graduate debt free, Stuck says.
As a way to acknowledge Brutus’ community service efforts, Linda Meeks started the Brutus Buckeye Ambassador Endowed Fund in 2013. The donation-based scholarship goes toward tuition and books in the hopes that students in the mascot program might graduate debt free.
Stuck says the fund is a little over half-way to meeting its goal, which would make the Brutus Program one of the first fully funded mascot programs in the country.
Buckeye Spirit
Although it’s a universal rule that collegiate mascots don’t speak, Sharp says, the art of miming is incredibly important to creating and maintaining the integrity of Brutus.
Brutus has a way of uniting people and bringing a sense of joy during times of difficulty such as the pandemic, Sharp says. The magic behind the mascot is being able to make people smile and offer them a small escape from reality, no matter what is going on around them.
“I don’t know of many opportunities outside of the university – or, really, anywhere – that an impact like that can be made just by appearing and putting on a costume,” Sharp says. “I think that speaks to that enduring spirit of wanting to pay it forward and wanting to make things better for the next person.”
Although faces at Ohio State may change, one thing that remains consistent is Brutus and his enduring smile.
“I think that because he’s always smiling, he really projects that tradition of Ohio State and the caring part about our community,” Stuck says.
Chloe McGowan is a contributing writer for CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
