Northwestern Wildcats Golf Gear

The tradition of Willie the Wildcat was established in 1924 when Wallace Abbey of the Chicago Tribune wrote, "The Northwestern football team fought like wildcats yesterday." The name so expressed the fighting spirit of the team that the name Wildcats was officially adopted as the University's athletic nickname. The first Willie was designed by Alpha Delts Frank Willard, John Balch, Rog Johnson and Bill Henning for their homecoming float in 1947. They designed the head while their mothers sewed the rear section of the costume. In 1948, two women students wore the Willie costume. Notre Dame had a standing rule forbidding women on the field, so Willie was stopped at the gates of the South Bend stadium. After a lengthy conference, the officials gave the women special permission to appear. The fate of Willie did not improve when in 1949 Purdue male cheerleaders, not realizing that two woman were Willie, picked up the wildcat and threw it into their boilermaker mascot. Apologies were made af