We searched the campus for bobcats — young and old, high and low — and here’s what we found.
Tap Cat
Unveiled in 2009, the bronze Bobcat sculpture quickly became part of a Bates sports ritual: Football players tap the cat en route from Underhill Arena to Garcelon Field.
Josh Kuckens/Bates College
Cat at Bat
In 1996, this live bobcat — owned by a local resident who saved it from a Montana pelt farm — watched a Bates baseball game vs. Colby-Sawyer.
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Tuff Cat
Displayed in the Alumni Gym lobby, this taxidermy bobcat shows visiting teams that a tussle is in store. It was donated to Bates by the late Marsha Graef, a longtime Bates coach and administrator.
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Top Cat
Perched above the Slovenski Track entry in Merrill Gym, this taxidermy bobcat was donated to Bates by Thomas Vail ’58 and Carole Carbone Vail ’58.
“One year we mounted him on a trailer and pulled him in the Alumni Parade at Reunion,” says Carole Vail. “He was a big hit and we of course won first place.”
This cat’s lair was the one-time Alumni House on Campus Avenue until that building was razed to make way for Chu and Kalperis halls.
Jay Burns/Bates College
Cabbit?
Here’s a photograph of the Bates Bobcat, circa 1973…perhaps second cousin to Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko?
Joe Gromeski ’74 (left)
This story was first published in the fall 2017 issue of Bates Magazine.
