Rowdy Raider is well known across all of Dayton as the mascot of Wright State University. The peppy, spirited wolf can be seen at many athletic events, open houses, and other campus events. With mascots being a huge part of the college experience, we began to wonder, how many people actually like WSU’s current mascot? We took to the SU market and cafeteria during lunch hours to find out.
Before that, it is critical to know the history of our mascot. Rowdy Raider was originally long-bearded Viking that was created in 1986. In 1997, the mascot was changed to a brown haired wolf, and in 2007 a slight modification was made to make Rowdy Raider a grey wolf. For the purposes of this survey, we asked students if they liked the current, grey wolf version of Rowdy Raider.
Justin Davis, a junior economics major, said he is a fan of Rowdy being an intimidating looking mascot.
“I’m ok with Rowdy being a wolf, but I love how they made him look intimidating,” he said. “Like some mascots have that cute and cuddly look that just annoys me, a perfect example being the Oregon Ducks mascot. I’m the type of guy that thinks mascots should have their game face on, and not look friendly to the opponent. I think with Rowdy they got it right to where he doesn’t look frightening, but you don’t want to mess with him either.”
Most students seemed to like Rowdy as a mascot, but we did find one student who didn’t care for him.
Ben Kirtland, a sophomore engineering student, thinks the wolf is overused when it comes to colleges and universities.
“Don’t get me wrong I love Wright State, but the wolf just seems so bland,” he said. “It’s almost as overused as the wildcat is in college sports. I don’t hate it by any means, but it’s not anywhere as unique as Buckeyes (Ohio State) or Flyers (University of Dayton).”
Overall, we asked 50 students for their opinions on Rowdy Raider, and 43 of them said they like WSU’s mascot. The other seven students were either not in favor or just indifferent about it.
This small survey of 50 students cannot represent the whole student body as a whole (over 12,000 students), but it does give a strong impression that most students at WSU are fans of our Rowdy Mascot.
