Willie Wildcat

---THIS IS A DEMO ACCOUNT---

Willie has been prowling the sidelines at K-State since 1947, but honestly, his look has come a long way since then. His first appearance was at a football game against Oklahoma A&M, and let's just say the costume didn't quite capture his best side with red-brown fur, black stripes, and a tail. It got the job done, but he had higher standards for himself.

Things got worse before they got better. By the mid-1960s he was sporting a look that, frankly, reminded people of Mickey Mouse. Not his proudest era. So in 1967, sculptor Jim Hagan stepped in and gave Willie a serious upgrade with a fiercer face built from coyote and wolf hair. Now we were talking. That head held up until 1980, and its replacement carried himall the way to 1993.

The look he is wearing today came together in 1997, gray fur with two white stripes that match the Powercat logo. Five pounds of pure wildcat. He shows up for every sport, drop and do a push-up for every point after a K-State touchdown, and he has been leading the K-S-U chant longer than most fans have been alive. One thing that hasn't changed in all those years: nobody knows who's inside this head. And that's exactly how he likes it.