Since the very beginning, Mississippi State University students have exhibited school pride and spirit for athletics through a symbolic mascot.
According to MSU’s website, MSU students have answered to a couple of different nicknames before being called Bulldogs.
The first teams to represent MSU were known as the Aggies, and not long after that, were known as the Maroons.
It was not until 1961 MSU students were officially called the Bulldogs, however, since 1905, the nickname Bulldog was exchanged frequently for Aggies or Maroons.
According to Starkville News, on Oct. 11, 1935, Major Ralph Sasse, coach of the MSU grid team, went to Memphis to get a bulldog to be MSU’s new mascot.
“The boys sent me here to get a bulldog as a mascot, and they issued warning they wouldn’t play against Alabama’s Crimson Tide next Saturday at Tuscaloosa if I came back without one,” Sasse said.
Today, MSU’s mascot, Bully, is a symbol of school spirit recognized by students, fans and alumni.
The role of the mascot Bully is played not only by the actual English Bulldog named Champ, but also by seven guys who wear the Bulldog suit at sporting events, outside events such as kids’ birthday parties and university functions.
George Salomon, senior biological engineering major, said he decided to be Bully as a way to give back to MSU in his last year of being a student.
“The first four years I was doing a lot of stuff here that would help me develop as a student, and now I wanted to give back,” Salomon said.
During game days, Bully has different responsibilities such as Fan Fare, where he takes pictures with fans; Dawg Walk and keeping high energy during games.
Jared Entrekin, senior sports studies and business major, said his favorite experience while in the suit was going into the stands with the fans during the games.
“Getting in the crowd is an experience enough as far as getting into the games goes because if you’re up there everyone gets into  it with you,” Entrekin said.
Reid Newton, senior sports studies and communication major, said it is a strange experience being Bully because the face behind the Bulldog is a mystery to most students and fans.
“It’s pretty weird because nobody knows who you are. You are like the most known-unknown person on campus,” Newton said.
Being Bully, Salomon, Entrekin, Newton and Ryan Wood, senior finance major, are given the opportunity to meet a lot of people and go a lot of places they would have never been able to outside the suit.
Wood said one person he got to meet was a gentleman who used to be Bully in 1973.
“We met someone who was Bully in ’73, and it’s very interesting to hear about the suit that they wore,” he said. “They said that they had to put a cereal box in the head of the suit so it would stay on their head.”