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Jack the Bulldog

Jack the Bulldog
Jack (John S. Carroll) visiting students
UniversityGeorgetown University
ConferenceBig East
DescriptionEnglish bulldog
Origin of nameLil-Nan's Royal Jacket
First seen1962

Jack the Bulldog is the official mascot of the Georgetown University Hoyas athletic teams. The school has employed at least nine live Bulldogs as mascots,[1] and counts seven named Jack since 1962, when the name first came into use, including three who are still living. The current incarnation of Jack, who will be taking over from his predecessor during the spring 2024 semester, is an English Bulldog born in 2023 whose full name is Serchell's John P. Carroll. Recent bulldogs have come from the Georgetown alumni family of Janice and Marcus Hochstetler.[2]

Jack was not always the name of the Georgetown Hoyas' mascot, nor was the mascot always a bulldog, as other types of dogs, particularly bull terriers, were associated with the sports teams before 1962. In 2009, the American Kennel Club ranked Jack as the 8th most popular dog in American culture.[3] Today, Georgetown is among thirty-nine American universities to use a bulldog as their mascot,[4] with Georgia, Butler, Mississippi State, Yale, and James Madison[5] being the only others with a live bulldog.[6] Jack is also portrayed by a costumed character Bulldog mascot, a tradition dating to 1977.[7] In 2019, a campus editorial called for replacing the bulldog with a rescue dog, in part because of the health problems and short lifespans that many bulldogs face.[8]

  1. ^ Willis, Jack; Doherty, Lauren (30 November 2023). "Welcome Back, Jack: GU Announces New Mascot". The Hoya. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference jack_f was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Johnson, Jenna (October 11, 2012). "Georgetown's mascot-in-training, Jack Junior, ready for Midnight Madness debut". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
  4. ^ Janik, Kinga (July 6, 2007). "Bulldogs Best at Bolstering School Spirit?". Georgetown Journalism. Archived from the original on October 17, 2008. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  5. ^ "JMU Centennial Celebration ~ Duke Dog ~ The Bulldog". www.jmu.edu. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  6. ^ Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (November 22, 2011). "Can the Bulldog Be Saved?". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2012.
  7. ^ Reynolds, Jon K. (September–October 1983). "The Dogs of Georgetown". Georgetown Magazine. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
  8. ^ "Replace Jack the Bulldog with a Rescue". The Georgetown Voice. February 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.

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