Wilbur and Wilma

Wilbur and Wilma
Wilbur and Wilma
Team	Arizona Wildcats
University	University of Arizona
Conference	Big 12
Description	Anthropomorphic North American wildcats
First seen	1959
Website	http://arizonaalumni.com/blog/wilbur-t-wildcat
Autograph

Wilbur and Wilma T. Wildcat are the official mascots at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

History

In 1915, the school's first mascot, a live desert bobcat named "Tom Easter" was brought to campus. He was later renamed "Rufus Arizona" after then U of A president Rufus B. von KleinSmid.^[1] For the next fifty years, the school used live mascots, a practice which was discontinued in the 1960s. However, in 1959, Wilbur, the costumed version of the live bobcat mascots, began appearing at football games. He was extremely popular, and has stayed ever since. In 1986, Wilma Wildcat was created, and was even married to Wilbur.^[2]

Originally, in honor of Arizona's Old West heritage, Wilbur wore a blue flat-topped cowboy hat, a blue vest, a cardinal bandana scarf around his neck and a holster with two pistols. Recently, Wilbur and Wilma have taken to wearing the teams' athletics jerseys instead of their traditional outfits, both as a sign of team spirit and to avoid references to gun violence. However, the hat remains on Wilbur, and Wilma wears a cardinal-colored bow.

Naming

The mascots' full names are Wilbur the Wildcat and Wilma the Wildcat, but they are often abbreviated to Wilbur T. Wildcat and Wilma T. Wildcat.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] Fans normally refer to the mascots simply as Wilbur and Wilma.

Identity

The identities of the students portraying Wilbur and Wilma are kept confidential until the final home basketball game of the season.^[7]

References

^ "Happy 100 Year Anniversary to the University of Arizona Mascot! | Special Collections". speccoll.library.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
^ "Wilbur and Wilma". Retrieved 2015-10-03.
^ "Wilbur T. Wildcat". Facebook. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
^ "Wilma T. Wildcat". Facebook. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^ "Wilbur T. Wildcat". Twitter. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^ "Wilma T. Wildcat". Twitter. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
^ Wall, Matt. "Under the mask: A behind the scenes look at what it's like to be Wilbur and Wilma". Daily Wildcat. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

External links

[1] "Happy 100 Year Anniversary to the University of Arizona Mascot! | Special Collections". speccoll.library.arizona.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-01.

[2] "Wilbur and Wilma". Retrieved 2015-10-03.

[3] "Wilbur T. Wildcat". Facebook. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

[4] "Wilma T. Wildcat". Facebook. Retrieved 18 September 2022.

[5] "Wilbur T. Wildcat". Twitter. Retrieved 18 September 2022.

[6] "Wilma T. Wildcat". Twitter. Retrieved 18 September 2022.

[7] Wall, Matt. "Under the mask: A behind the scenes look at what it's like to be Wilbur and Wilma". Daily Wildcat. Retrieved 6 June 2017.

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v t e University of Arizona
Located in: Tucson, Arizona
Academics	College of Agriculture and Life Sciences College of Applied Science and Technology College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture College of Education College of Engineering College of Fine Arts Graduate College Honors College College of Humanities James E. Rogers College of Law Eller College of Management College of Medicine Phoenix Tucson College of Nursing College of Optical Sciences Outreach College College of Pharmacy Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health College of Science College of Social and Behavioral Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine
Athletics and traditions	Football Arizona Stadium Roy P. Drachman Stadium (track and field) Men's basketball Women's basketball McKale Center Baseball Hi Corbett Field Jerry Kindall Field at Frank Sancet Stadium (former baseball venue) Women's soccer Softball Mike Candrea Field at Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium The Pride of Arizona Rivalries State Farm Territorial Cup Series Territorial Cup Kit Carson Rifle (defunct) Bear Down Fight! Wildcats! Fight! Wilbur and Wilma Wildcat "A" Mountain ZonaZoo
Campus	Main Campus University of Arizona South University Medical Center Libraries Student Union Memorial Center Krutch Cactus Garden Arizona State Museum Flandrau Science Center Lunar and Planetary Laboratory Steward Observatory Kitt Peak National Observatory Biosphere 2 University of Arizona Museum of Art Center for Creative Photography Centennial Hall Student Recreation Center University Boulevard (Tucson) Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park
Media	Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona Public Media KUAT-TV (PBS) KUAT-FM KUAZ (NPR) KAMP University of Arizona Press
People	Alumni & Faculty
Founded: 1885 Students: 53,187 (2023) Endowment: $1.29 billion (2023)

v t e Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Bear Down Gym (1926–1973) McKale Center (1973–present)
Rivalries	Arizona State UCLA
Culture & lore	Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!" 2017–18 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e Arizona Wildcats women's basketball
Venues	Bear Down Gym (1972–1973) McKale Center (1973–present)
Culture & lore	Wilbur and Wilma "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!"
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

v t e Arizona Wildcats football
Venues	Arizona Stadium (1929–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arizona State New Mexico
Culture & lore	Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma The Pride of Arizona "A" Mountain "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!"
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024