Many students may know of Bully XIX, the white-and-tan bulldog, as part of Mississippi State University’s traditional mascot. However, many students may not be aware of all of the traditions, identity and background and long selection process that comprise part of MSU’s official mascot.
“Anyone who’s spent any time with our current mascot, Tonka, will tell you that he’s intelligent, affectionate and attracts admirers wherever he goes-qualities hard to resist,” said Maridith Geuder, associate director of the division of university relations.
The present Bully’s registered name is “Ta’ Tonka Gold,” otherwise called Tonka or “T” for short.
Tonka is the first mascot that was purchased by the athletic department. Either alumni, students or university employees donated his predecessors.
Tonka currently lives with his foster mother, Lisa Chrestman, animal health technician in the clinical science department in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Chrestman said it was easy to volunteer for the job because she was “already responsible for all his appearances and engagements.”
Bully used to roam the MSU campus at will. This trend changed after several mascots were kidnapped, murdered or hit by cars.
The care of Bully was turned over to the Pre-Vet Club in 1975. Both Bully XVI and XVII lived with their owner, Whitley Wilson. Bully XVIII lived at CVM for a while and then was fostered to a CVM staff member. When Templeton bought Tonka, it was decided that he should have a foster owner from the start.
The first known appearance of a bulldog in connection with MSU was in 1905. Mississippi A&M, as MSU was then known, had just defeated the University of Mississippi in Jackson.
To complete the victory, the student body reportedly decided to show sympathy for the dead athletic spirit of Ole Miss by having a military funeral parade through the streets of downtown Jackson.
Students placed the pup on top of a coffin decorated in maroon and white.
Although the bulldog breed was adopted as the school’s mascot for the first time that year, it was not until 1935 that the first bulldog mascot, Ptolemy, was introduced.
Starting with Bully XIX, all future Bullys are directed to be descendants of the previous Bully.
Chrestman said the selection of MSU’s most recent mascot involved a long process directed by herself, Athletic Director Larry Templeton, Associate Athletic Director Duncan McKenzie and Associate Director of Clinical Education Margaret Kern.
Kern and Chrestman went to several breeders looking at pups and made many phone calls in Mississippi and the surrounding states looking for the perfect bulldog.
The selected pup had to meet several specific physical requirements, including being fawn-and-white (tan and white) with a white chest, white blaze face (white strip between the eyes) and white feet. It also had to be a part of the “Wilson bloodline” of Bully XVI and Bully XVII.
The selection process for Tonka took about two years, with the dog being found in Waynesboro, Miss.
“When his previous owners brought him to CVM for evaluation he walked in like he owned the place and that everyone should look at him and nothing else,” Chrestman said.
Tonka has many traditional responsibilities, including greeting alumni, attending basketball, football and baseball games and making appearances at other university events as well.
“As a non-sports metaphor, I think the bulldog suggests a larger university value of being willing to work hard to get jobs done-whether you’re a student, faculty member or staff person. Like our on-field mascot, bulldogs just don’t give up, and from generation to generation I think we have a pride in that,” Geuder said.