Whether you’re at a school assembly or a sporting event, nothing summons some extra team spirit quite like a mascot.
Bellingham schools and sports teams have had an eclectic variety of costumed supporters over the years, from anthropomorphic hamsters to oversized Norsemen. The following is a fun sampling of mascots you may have seen around town, with emphasis on mascots in educational institutions.
Victor E. Viking, Western Washington University
Through its first 20 years of existence, the college now known as Western Washington University lacked a symbol with which to identify its students or athletic teams. But all that changed in the fall of 1923, when a name selection contest was held.
To get students brainstorming, the school’s board of control offered a prize of $5 (equivalent to $90 today) to whoever suggested the eventual choice. By the end of October, stakes had risen higher: a restaurant quality dinner for two had been added to the prize package.
In the November 16, 1923 edition of The Weekly Messenger (the era’s campus newspaper), it was announced that over 250 students had submitted potential team names. From that list, the school’s board considered a list of more than 65 names before settling on “Vikings.” It’s unclear who the winning student was, or if they received their prizes.
The name made sense for several reasons, the paper read: Vikings meant “fiord men,” and Puget Sound was among the world’s largest “fiords.” Secondly, Vikings hailed from the north, and the college was allegedly the country’s northernmost at the time. Finally, Vikings was “capable of being adapted to various circumstances and is easily remembered.”
Paul Madison, WWU’s athletic historian, says Vikings may also have been chosen due to the county’s then-sizeable Scandinavian population. It’s less clear when the Victor E. Viking mascot first strode across campus, but the costume has been a presence at WWU events since at least the 1980s, according to Madison.
Likewise, the school’s Viking logo has encountered many changes over the decades. One logo, from the 1950s or 60s, wasn’t particular intimidating, Madison says, and featured a Viking leaning over the school’s initials in a particular way.
“He looked like he might be a little bit inebriated,” Madison says with a laugh. “It wasn’t a forceful type of logo.”
Though some students and faculty have recently suggested the mascot be done away with due to changing cultural sensibilities, Victor continues to be part of WWU’s school spirit at events, and even has a bobblehead in his likeness.
Finny Dorsalini, Whatcom Community College
Whatcom Community College also spent initial decades without a mascot after forming in 1967.
But in the fall of 1988, the school’s associated students solicited names for one, with the top 10 added to a student ballot for voting. Among the suggestions: wood duck, pig, and even slug, according to an old issue of WCC’s student newspaper, Horizon.
The choice came down to a runoff vote between the orca whale and wolverine. The orca prevailed — by a scant 11 votes — and the college’s board of trustees officially adopted it as mascot in 1989.
WCC acquired an orca costume in 1998 that was known as “Willie the Whale.” But a decade later, the worn costume spent more time in a closet than on the sidelines of basketball games. Willie made sporadic appearances at WCC events in the 2010s and was permanently retired after a 50th anniversary celebration in 2017.
That same year, the college’s student life office and associated students leadership took part in a regional mascot competition, attempting to win a new mascot costume. Although they weren’t successful, Heidi Farani, WCC’s current director for student life and development, subsequently made a funding request for a new costume that was overwhelmingly approved.
A naming discussion among the student senate took place in the fall of 2017, and Finny Dorsalini became the new orca’s name. The current mascot has sneakers, as well as an athletic jersey, which Willie lacked.
A student was subsequently hired to portray Finny and make numerous public appearances. Although slowed during the pandemic years, Finny continues to make a comeback at more and more WCC events.
‘Big Red’ and the Storm
Of the Bellingham School District’s four high schools (Bellingham, Sehome, Squalicum, Options), only one currently has an official mascot.
Bellingham High’s Bayhawks are represented by “Big Red,” a red hawk who appears at assemblies and athletic events, and even has an annual portrait in the school’s yearbook.
At Squalicum High School, a new mascot is currently being designed to represent the school’s athletic namesake, the Storm. That mascot is expected to involve a cloud for a head and also feature lightning bolts in some capacity, according to Jacqueline Brawley, BSD communications director.
Squalicum has been without a mascot since the retirement of Thor, a Viking character with lightning bolt sideburns. Introduced in the early 2000s, Thor was eventually mothballed around the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic due mainly to old age.