By AAMU Public Relations Department
On this National Mascot Day, a look at Butch the Bulldog, courtesy A. Carlton Rice, who’s been handling AAMU’s official live mascot since he was a young boy.
“When my family moved to Huntsville, we lived across from Coach Frank E. “Mooney” Lewis in the W.T. Gravitt Apartments (where the new dormitory stands on Meridian Street). My dad, W.A. Rice, moved us here to start work for his beloved AAMU (Class of 1947). It was there that Coach Lewis allowed me to handle Butch. I was 11 years old. Coach Lewis kept the first two bulldogs in the 60s.
In the 80s, outside families donated two other bulldogs as mascots. I brought a pup bulldog to a few games in the early 90s, but didn’t own him. In March 2013, I purchased two pups, Miss Bessie and Callie (sisters). AAMU alum Michael Cooper, close friend Chris Jacobs and I began running them on the field in front of the football team from 2013 – 19. In 2018, I added Calvin to the Bulldog Bunch. Miss Bessie died unexpectedly in December following the 2019 season.
In April 2020, I had Henry, named after my granddad, but decided we needed to add the Butch brand, so his name is ‘Butch-Henry.’ Butch-Henry is two years old and began running in the fall 2021 season. He can run with the team without a leash.
As a lifelong Bulldog, I decided to continue the long tradition of having a mascot on the scene. Callie is now nine and Calvin is four. We take great care handling them and they enjoy being amongst the Bulldog faithful.” – A. Carlton Rice, AAMU Athletic Hall of Fame (Tennis) 1997.
Rice, who has taken photos of AAMU athletic events for 50 years, graduated from AAMU in 1983 and is a software engineer with Barrios Technology.
According to University Archives & Special Collections, AAMU students voted to adopt maroon and white as the school colors and the Bulldog mascot after a proposal during chapel exercises on Friday, October 15, 1926. The vote was unanimous.
