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What is a Bearcat?
The word first appeared in print circa 1889 as a synonym for the giant panda. "Bearcat" is a simple translation of the Chinese word for panda-xiong mao-which means "bear-cat."The Binturong (Arctictis binturong) is a species of the family Viverridae, which includes the civets and genets. It is neither a bear nor a cat, and the real meaning of the original name is lost, as the local language that gave it its name is extinct. Its natural habitats are in the forest canopy trees in the rainforests of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Palawan Island.
In recent years, a live Binturong has been living at the Cincinnati Zoo and has made appearances at UC Athletics events.
From 2008 – 2019 Lucy the Bearcat was the live mascot that cheered on the Bearcats at over 200 sporting events. With Lucy’s retirement in 2019, a new mascot, Lucille, has been chosen to become the official live mascot of the University of Cincinnati. Lucille is a Palawan Binturong, which is native to an island of the same name in the Philippines.
Fans can visit Lucille at the Cincinnati Zoo!
THE HISTORY OF A NICKNAME
The "Bearcats" name was born on October 31, 1914. The occasion was a football game with the University of Kentucky Wildcats, a star UC player named Baehr, a creative cheerleader and a talented cartoonist.
During the second half of that hard-fought football game, UC cheerleader Norman "Pat" Lyon, building on the efforts of fullback Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, created the chant: "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side."
The crowd took up the cry: "Come on, Baehr-cat!"
Cincinnati prevailed, 14-7, and the victory was memorialized in a cartoon published on the front page of the student newspaper, the weekly University News, on Nov. 3. The cartoon, by John "Paddy" Reece, depicted a bedraggled Kentucky Wildcat being chased by a creature labeled "Cincinnati Bear Cats."
The name stuck, but not immediately. Following Teddy Baehr's graduation in 1916, the name dropped out of use, at least in print, for a few years. On Nov. 15, 1919, Cincinnati played at Tennessee. Cincinnati Enquirer writer Jack Ryder's dispatch on the game was the first time that the major media called UC's teams "Bearcats." From then on, the university's teams were regularly called Bearcats.