Meet The Original UW Mascot

Before they were Huskies the University of Washington had a very different mascot. His short-lived life is a big part of Husky history!

Check out this recent KING 5 Evening Magazine feature on Sunny Boy.

Before the 1920's, Washington's football mascot was a three-and-a-half foot wooden statue named Sunny Boy, a sculptured replica of the happy-faced character, Sunny, who appeared in the University's humor magazine Sun Dodger. Maurice S. Holcomb, the artist who conceived Sunny, said the statue was meant to be a symbol of "Joe College" - books under one arm, a football under the other.

But when Washington changed its mascot in 1923, Sunny Boy disappeared and was not discovered until 23 years later in South Bend, Ind. The statue had been removed from the trophy room of a university fraternity house as a prank and shipped to South Bend by the prankster to keep it in hiding. It was returned in 1948, presented to UW officials at the Notre Dame game and resided for years at the UW Alumni Association. He now resides in the Husky Fever Hall of Fame in Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Sunny Boy was abducted one other time, in the spring of 1994 in what was believed to be a fraternity prank. He was found a couple of days later in Issaquah and once again is back in the Hall of Fame.