Northwest Missouri State University - Campus Lore

Campus Lore

• Mike the Dog - Although the team mascot is a bearcat, perhaps the school's most touching monument is a small memorial to a dog near the east end of the Administration Building. Mike (which appears to resemble a Cairn Terrier) was a campus fixture from 1916–1917 and wore a green blanket with an "M" on it. Mike died after drinking arsenide of lead mistaking it for water. Students raised money for the memorial.
• Roberta Hall ghost - On April 28, 1951 a gas tanker car stored on a siding of the Wabash Railroad tracks behind what was then Residence Hall exploded, sending steel chunks several blocks away. The ensuing fire destroyed much of Residence Hall and injured Roberta Steel, who was to die from the wounds in 1952. The Hall was rebuilt and renamed for Roberta. A persistent story says that she haunts the building throwing hair brushes.
• Bobby the Bearcat - Northwest initially did not have a formal mascot and had been nicknamed the "Normals." In 1916 a Drury College coach asked the Northwest coach if his bearcats were ready to play. The name stuck.
• Northwest Yeti - Although the official mascot is Bobby the Bearcat, a Yeti can often be seen at Northwest events, including basketball and football games. The Yeti has a small cult following.
• Kissing Bridge - The small wooden kissing bridge was over a small usually dry creek leading to Colden Pond southwest of Charles J. Colden Hall. Legend says that a female student isn’t officially a co-ed until she has been kissed on the bridge before the first snowfall. Another legend says that if you cross the bridge you will visit the campus again. The bridge has been moved from its original location closer to Colden Hall.
• University Seal in the Bell Tower - The university seal, which is also the seal of the State of Missouri, is at the base of the Bell Tower. According to legend, if you walk across it you risk flunking. In a 2004 restoration of the tower the seal was moved to a display case.
• Bell of 48 - A gift from the class of 1948, the bell is rung to announce athletic victories, in memory of any member of the University community and to announce other events deemed important by Student Senate and the administration. The bell is rung at 8:00 AM, (the time classes usually start,) on the Friday before the homecoming game, in order to signify Walk-Out Day. The seniors used to ring the bell some time in the day to "release" the other students from classes. Each year it became earlier until the University made it a tradition by cancelling classes that day.
• Hickory Stick - The hickory stick is given to the winner of the Northwest and Truman State University (Kirksville, MO) football game. The hickory stick says, "This Hickory Stick was grown on a farm in the Maryville District on which Eugene Fair, President of Northeast Missouri State was born." The first recorded game score is from 1908. Also noted on the stick is 1942, '43, '44 and '45 "WAR NO GAME." By tradition the winning team repaints the metal tip with their school color. Truman holds the overall advantage 42-28-4, but the tides are a changin', Northwest has owned the hickory stick for the last 8-years, including a 49-0 drubbing in 2008 as well as a 70-0 win in 2009.
• World's Shortest St. Patrick's Parade - Starting off as a joke for downtown watering hole The Palms, it is an ever-diminishing tradition of having of the world's shortest Saint Patrick's Day Parade. Originally going a block on Buchanan from Fourth Street to Fifth Street, the parade has gotten shorter and shorter each year to maintain the record. It was 86 feet (26 m) in 2006.
• Laptop Program - Northwest gives HP laptop computers to all students for use during the school year.