‘Purdue Pete’ named creepiest college mascot in America
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — The six-foot-tall, hammer-wielding mascot of Purdue University has taken first place in a “Creepiest College Mascots in America” contest, beating out Pistol Pete of Oklahoma State University, Stanford Tree of Stanford University and Cayenne of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The results come from a survey that Quality Logo Products Blog conducted earlier this month in which they asked 1,266 to score 128 mascots from schools with NCAA Division 1 football teams. Some of the categories featured include “The Sexiest College Mascots in America” and “The Most Offensive College Mascots in America.”
In addition to being named the creepiest college mascot, Purdue Pete took home the title of second worst mascot in America.
The blog said that Purdue’s former athletic director, Morgan Burke, reported often receiving phone calls from parents saying their children were scared of the university’s mascot.
In 2010, Purdue announced that they planned “modernize” the decades-old mascot, but the university brought back the old Pete a year after that announcement.
The blog also noted that “Purdue Pete creepy” is one of the first suggestions on Google when searching “Purdue Pete.”