University of Tennessee’s costumed dog mascot named Smokey has earned his 3rd national mascot championship in the recently concluded Universal Cheerleading Association National held at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
A spirited competitor, Smokey has won the back-to-back national title in 2000-2001 and is a consistent runner up in this contest for elite mascots.
Despite his impressive track record, the competition was not a walk in the park for Smokey had to fight against other top performing mascots including University of Wisconsin–Madison’s “Bucky the Badger” and Auburn University’s “Aubie the Tiger”.
Smokey is not the lone mascot of UT’s sports team better known as “The Volunteers” or “Vols”. The original mascot is a live Bluetick coonhound dog, a native breed of Tennessee. Based on the demand of the students, the first Smokey reigned from 1953 to 1954. The latest live hound dog mascot is Smokey XI, which started in 2004. His main task is to lead the Vols out of the giant “T” before the start of each home game.
Via Tricities Sports
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