Bill the Goat
Bill the Goat is the mascot of the United States Naval Academy's football team . On the one hand it is a real goat , on the other hand a midshipman (ensign at sea) in a goat costume appears at football games to entertain the audience. There is also a bronze statue of a billy goat at the main entrance to the Academy campus.
The first goat was used in 1893, the reigning buck is Bill XXXI, who shares his stable with his deputy and designated successor Bill XXXII.
history
According to legend, the mascot goes back to a ship goat who died while on a mission with a navy ship. When the ship docked again in Baltimore Harbor, two lieutenants were assigned to take the stripped skin of the goat to a taxidermist and stopped by at a football game. During the game, one of them threw his skin on to the amusement of the crowd. The Navy team won the game.
It was not until 1893 that a live goat was identified as a mascot. The goat named " El Cid " was used at the fourth meeting of the Navy crew with their archenemy, the United States Military Academy team. The Navy won the game 6-3, and El Cid was on the sidelines for all of the team's games. In the meantime, other mascots such as cats, dogs and even a carrier pigeon were put into service, but after 1904 the billy goat was the only established mascot. In 1900, in Philadelphia, the Navy goat first encountered the Army mascot, a donkey. After the 11-7 victory of the Navy, she was celebrated on the return trip on the train to Annapolis and was given the name Bill, which is still common today, on this train journey.
Bill XVI. († 1968), a gift from the United States Air Force Academy , and Bill XVII. († 1971) both died of poisoning. Weedkillers had previously been sprayed on the meadow around their stable. Bill XXI is generally considered to be the most successful buck to date. He was the mascot of the 1978 season, one of the most successful for his team. Under his aegis, the Navy also won two victories over the archenemy Military Academy.
On November 5, 1995, around a month before the Army’s annual game against the Navy, members of the Military Academy kidnapped the reigning goat Bill the Goat XXVI, as well as the heir to the throne Bill XXVIII and XXIX from the Navy farm in Gambrills, Maryland. They were only returned to the Navy following the intervention of the United States Department of Defense , which stated that the "kidnapping of cadets, lieutenants and mascots" was intolerable.
Bill XXVIII served from October 1995 until his death in November 2001.
