Hoosiers Now

Indiana's Hoosier the Bison Mascot to Debut at Football Season Opener

After 56 years stuck in the locker room, Hoosier the Bison will be reintroduced to Indiana fans Aug. 30.
Daniel Flick|
Hoosier The Bison is shown on top of the Memorial Stadium press box as he oversees his realm. Indiana confirmed the bison will be back as the official mascot starting in the fall.
Hoosier The Bison is shown on top of the Memorial Stadium press box as he oversees his realm. Indiana confirmed the bison will be back as the official mascot starting in the fall. | Screenshot from Indiana athletics X post.

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana's 56-year drought without its mascot, Hoosier the Bison, will officially end in Week 1 of the college football season.

Indiana University announced in a press release Monday the Bison will make its public debut Aug. 30, when the Hoosiers host Old Dominion University inside Memorial Stadium. The Bison, which was first introduced in 1965, last appeared in 1969.

Indiana Athletics unveiled the return of the Bison on May 27, just over six months after the IU Student Government reaffirmed the Bison as the school's mascot and urged IU Athletics to adopt it.

Per the university's release, IU Athletics will embrace the Bison "as a symbol of both the department and campus’ spirit, passion, tradition, unity and success."

Indiana cited tradition with the Bison as a key factor to its decision.

"The state of Indiana and the bison have been linked for more than two centuries," the release said. "The bison has been used as an Indiana symbol longer than Indiana has been a U.S. state. The bison first appeared on official court documents signed by then Indiana Territory Governor and future U.S. President William Henry Harrison in 1801, a full 15 years before Indiana became the country’s 19th state in 1816.

"The Indiana Territory seal depicted a woodsman chopping trees while a bison runs in the foreground, symbolizing the country’s expansion on the Indiana frontier (at the time, the western boundary of the United States). The bison has been a part of the Indiana state seal ever since."

When the Bison is formally reintroduced to the Hoosier faithful, it'll proverbially follow Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti out of the Memorial Stadium tunnel.

Cignetti's attention will be elsewhere, but count the Hoosiers' top boss as a fan of the new mascot.

"I love the bison," Cignetti said in May. "I love it."

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Daniel Flick
DANIEL FLICK

Daniel Flick is a senior in the Indiana University Media School and previously covered IU football and men's basketball for the Indiana Daily Student. Daniel also contributes NFL Draft articles for Sports Illustrated, and before joining Indiana Hoosiers On SI, he spent three years writing about the Atlanta Falcons and traveling around the NFL landscape for On SI. Daniel is the winner of the Joan Brew Scholarship, and he will cover Indiana sports once more for the 2025-26 season.

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