
Most of us have come to know Goldy Gopher, the beloved mascot of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, as a mostly benevolent, vaguely furry, and perpetually smiling character who never shies away from a photograph. Guaranteed smiles and laughs.
But Goldy has a complicated history.
The first official illustration of Goldy dates back to the 1940s. It was a combination of cute and pathetic—a squirrelly figure with large ears and eyes, a slender frame, and T-Rex arms. Subsequent iterations were similarly cute, if not capable of striking any fear into opposing teams.
In the early 1950s, Goldy the mascot started making appearances at games, but with a fairly pathetic costume. Fortunately, the costumes improved dramatically over the years.
And in the ensuing decades, Goldy the mascot has appeared everywhere from State Capitol rallies to presidential inaugurations (U of M, not U.S.) and is always a hit at athletic events—with equal parts hijinx (especially near Halloween) and magnetic appeal for kids of all ages.
But did you know that there’s a short chapter during which Goldy became more villainous? For a brief span in 1985, the Goldy logo turned fierce, as pictured above. U of M alumnus Stephen Wanvig, while working for the local company Josten’s, designed a brawny and scowling new mascot—now barrel-chested with thick pointed eyebrows and dark, menacing eyes.
There was no doubt about it. This Goldy was fierce and a force to be reckoned with—at the same time that head football coach Lou Holtz was trying to infuse the Gopher football team with those same characteristics.
However, many in the Gopher faithful were none too thrilled about Goldy turning Minnesota Mean, and they soon voiced their unhappiness. There was even a group called Save Our Wimp that lobbied for a return to a more nonthreatening Goldy. U of M alumnus Dan Larson ’90, a freshman in 1985, remembers hearing that it was primarily faculty who weren’t fond of the new look, while students didn’t necessarily think of it as being too aggressive.
“I thought the [1985] Gopher was a little bit more determined-looking,” Larson says.
Alas, the tenure of “Fierce Goldy” at the U of M was even shorter than that of Holtz. Responding to the public outcry, Wanvig went back to the drawing board, and in 1986 created a slightly slimmer and more cheerful Goldy, whose likeness remains to this day.
Larson, for what it’s worth, was less impressed with the kinder, gentler Goldy: “The redesigned one, I thought, ‘OMG, Bucky (Badger) is gonna steal his lunch money!’”
It’s probably all for the best that the 1985 Goldy didn’t make the grade. Even now, babies and toddlers occasionally cry when they encounter Goldy up close at games, perhaps frightened by seeing a head proportionately larger than their own. Fierce Goldy might have given generations of kids nightmares instead of delightful memories. And Goldy Gopher, as we all know, is all about the smiles and the laughter.
Nevertheless, we salute you, Stephen Wanvig, for your hand in embellishing the saga of our GOAT mascot. And Happy Anniversary, Fierce Goldy!
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