How Did We Get our Nickname…
Harding has always been the Bisons, with an “s.”
There is an undocumented story that Harding’s student body voted for “Bisons” as the school’s nickname during the college’s inaugural 1924-25 school year.
Harding’s first football team was called the Bisons in the December 1925 edition of the Petit Jean Collegian, the college’s newspaper, in an article recapping the season. The 1927 Petit Jean is the first yearbook to call Harding’s teams the “Bisons.”
It is possible that the student body chose “Bisons” as the nickname in a nod to James A. Harding’s alma mater, Bethany College, who also had Bisons as their nickname.
Why Bisons with an s…
The common usage for the plural of Bison in the early 1920s was “Bisons.” Several colleges, universities and professional teams that selected that mascot even into the 1930s used the name “Bisons” — not “Bison.” In 1924, the same year Harding selected “Bisons,” the Buffalo, New York, entry in the National Football League changed its nickname from the Buffalo All-Americans to the Buffalo Bisons. In 1920, the University of Manitoba in Canada selected “Bisons” as its nickname.
Several teams retain the name Bisons, while others have dropped the “s” and become Bison.
In former sports information director Stan Green’s football media guides, he wrote: “Our nickname was selected many years ago by our student body; so we reserve the right to spell it in a special way.”
"Because the athletes are humans, I think it's defensible if a school chooses to use the ‘s’ form,” says Steve Kleinedler, executive editor of the American Heritage Dictionary. “If you're talking about the animal itself, the plural of the word is bison. There is a tradition of being able to refer to teams using normal pluralization patterns. A different set of pluralization rules can apply. I don't see anything wrong with it."
In the mid-1990s, a movement tried to drop the “s” with the cheerleaders changing their uniforms and cheers to “Bison” and “Go Bison.” Several staff members tried to join the effort, but the trend never caught on, and Harding stayed the “Bisons.”
Other schools and professional sports teams also have the mascot “Bisons.”
Lipscomb, a Church of Christ school in Nashville, Tennessee, is also called the Bisons. They first used Bisons in 1932 when the one of the coaches went to the sporting goods store and bought a jacket with a buffalo on it.
The Buffalo Bisons baseball team, a triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, was founded in 1877. When asked about the nickname, Brad Bisbing, director of public relations, responded: “When fans ask about the name, which does happen annually, we just tell them we have always been the Bisons so we are always going to be the Bisons. And, when they continue to say that’s grammatically in correct, I usually tell them that Sox isn’t the traditional plural of the word “socks” either, but Boston still rolls with it.”
When to use "Bison," and when to use "Bisons"…
In our sports stories, sometimes you will see Bison without the s. Why is that? It is because the name is used as an adjective rather than a noun.
Example of “Bison” as an adjective: “I am a fan of Bison football.”
Example of “Bisons” as a noun: “I am a fan of the Harding Bisons.”
Timeline
1924-25 – Unconfirmed vote by the student body selected the nickname
December 1925 – First mention of “Bisons” in the Petit Jean Collegian (school newspaper)
1927 – First mention of “Bisons” in the yearbook
1929 – In The Bison dated Oct. 15, an editorial by J. Lewis Foster mentions that Harding’s fans “wear the Bisons black and gold.” It is the first mention of school colors in the student newspaper.
1964 – A bison calf was brought to Searcy. According to the Sept. 10 edition of The Bison, Robert Clark, Jr., son of Harding's research director, worked with nine men from the Kansas Fish and Game Commission in a roundup, which lasted three weeks. A calf was taken from a buffalo reservation near Kingman, Kansas, and took eight hours to load on a truck for the trip to Searcy. During its struggles the calf knocked off one of his horns, and the other was amputated for balance.
1964 – The Sept. 24 edition of The Bison reports that the bison calf was given the name “Benny” by a Student Association (SA) sponsored contest. Junior coed Pat McMackin submitted the winning name drawn by SA. Ten other students submitted the winning name, but McMackin’s name was drawn, and she won $5 from the contest. The reason McMackin chose the name was that she originally wanted to name him Benson in honor of then Harding College President George Benson but went with the shorter nickname. Benny was later given the nickname “Big Ben” as his weight neared 1,000 pounds.
1964-67 – Benny was brought to the home football games first by Dr. Benson, Dr. Clifton Ganus recounted in the 1998 October edition of The Bison.
"At first, Dr. Benson would lead him into football games on a rope,” Ganus said. “The next year, it took eight boys and two ropes to bring him in. The year after that, he was so big and mean we had to put him out next to the field in a horse trailer. We brought him out like that for a couple of years. The rest of the time he stayed on the Harding farm in town, out with the cows. He kept eating feed from the calves' cribs and trying to nurse the cows. He was mean, too - we were afraid he would hurt someone if they went out into the pasture. Finally, we told him he could either 'behave or be barbecue.' He didn't behave, so we barbecued him. I got a quarter of him. He was really tender and good."
1972 – Benny met his demise. An article from the Sept. 15 edition of The Bison stated that Benny was shot by the administration and served in the cafeteria for the students to eat.
1980 – First Mascot Costume. According to an article in the Nov. 17 edition of The Bison, Bobby Stokes, a varsity basketball player became Harding’s first costume mascot. Stokes got the gig when Coach John Prock and others noticed how he yelled and carried on at the previous season’s games. Bobby was the name of the Bison.
1995 – Second Mascot Costume. According to an article in the Oct. 27 edition of The Bison, Barry Watts put on the Bison costume after gaining the position after a tryout. Barry became the name of the Bison.
1998 – Two Mascots. According to an article in the February edition of The Bison, Amber Aubrey became the first Bison cheerleader when she joined Ray Rajagukguk, who played Barry the Bison. Aubrey wore a cheerleading outfit over the costume to give it a Lady Bison look.
2003 – Harding unveiled its current logo.
2003 – Buff was selected as the new mascot name by the student body.
