Handsome Dan is a bulldog that serves as the mascot of Yale University's sports teams. In addition to a person wearing a costume, the position is filled by an actual bulldog, the honor and title being transferred to a successor upon death or retirement.
Handsome Dan I Active 1889–1897 (retired to England).
Handsome Dan was selected based on his ability to tolerate bands and children, negative reaction to the color crimson and to tigers (the symbols of rival schools Harvard and Princeton respectively), bought by Yale student Andrew Barbey Graves, who cleaned up the dog and named him “Handsome Dan.” Soon, Dan followed Graves everywhere around campus, including sporting events. The students quickly adopted Dan as the Yale mascot. After Graves graduated and returned to England, Dan stayed on campus with his master's brother, William Leon Graves. Before football and baseball games would begin, Handsome Dan founded a tradition and a dynasty by being led across the field. One newspaper reported: "He was a big white bulldog, with one of the greatest faces a dog of that breed (English) ever carried". This was not an exaggeration, as Handsome Dan was one of the finest specimens of his breed in America, and went on to win first prize at the Westminster Dog Show and at least thirty other first prize ribbons in the United States and Canada. According to the Hartford Courant, "In personal appearance, he seemed like a cross between an alligator and a horned frog, and he was called handsome by the metaphysicians under the law of compensation. The title came to him, he never sought it. He was always taken to games on a leash, and the Harvard football team for years owed its continued existence to the fact that the rope held." The Philadelphia Press reported that "a favorite trick was to tell him to 'Speak to Harvard.' He would bark ferociously and work himself into physical contortions of rage never before dreamed of by a dog. Dan was peculiar to himself in one thing – he would never associate with anyone but students. Dan implanted himself more firmly in the hearts of Yale students than any mascot had ever done before." Handsome Dan crossed the Atlantic to join his old master in 1897 and died in 1898. Graves had Dan taxidermied and returned him to be displayed at Yale in the old gymnasium. When it was torn down, Dan I was sent to the Peabody Museum for reconstruction. Handsome Dan I now is in a sealed glass case in one of the trophy rooms of Yale's Payne Whitney Gymnasium, where, according to Stanton Ford, "he is the perpetual guardian of the treasures which attest to generations of Yale athletic glory." Andrew Graves died of tuberculosis on February 18, 1948, in Westbury, Long Island.
Handsome Dan II Active 1933–1937 (died of a broken leg). After a 35-year interval, Handsome Dan II was purchased with pennies donated by the freshman class, and given to coach Ducky Pond. Handsome Dan II was dognapped by Harvard students the day before the 1934 Harvard-Yale football game, and Yale students were alarmed at photographs of him happily seated at the foot of the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Yard, having a snack. He died of a leg fracture received from a jump. Handsome Dan II is now located at the Yale Peabody Museum.
Handsome Dan III Active 1937–1938 (retired due to emotional instability). Handsome Dan III was a huge white dog who exhibited morbid fear of crowds and had to be retired.
Handsome Dan IV Active 1938–1940 (retired due to injury). Handsome Dan IV had his spine fractured by a car early in his term of office, leaving his hind legs paralyzed. Until he eventually died in 1940, a bulldog named Bull served in his place, becoming Handsome Dan V.
Handsome Dan V Active 1940–1947 (died of old age). "Bull", brought in his youth to watch football practices by his owner, high school student Bob Day, who lived near the Yale Bowl, ascended to office when Handsome Dan IV died. A great success, he loved public appearances and the adulation of crowds, was a familiar figure around the locker rooms, and joined the team on a trip to Princeton University.
Handsome Dan VI Active 1947–1949 (died at age two). Handsome Dan VI was eight weeks old when he took the role, but died at age two. It was reported that he died from fear of fireworks at the Yale-Harvard game, or of shame from seeing the Yale team lose to both Princeton and Harvard in the same year.
Handsome Dan VII Active 1949–1952 (retired due to emotional instability). Handsome Dan VII was donated to football coach Herman Hickman at age 3 but he proved to have a bad temper, which suited him better in his next position as a watchdog on a Florida estate.
Handsome Dan VIII Active 1952 (retired due to emotional instability). Up to this point, Handsome Dans had lived at the Yale Boathouse and were cared for in a somewhat haphazard fashion. Handsome Dan VIII, however, was owned by assistant football manager Tom Shutt, ushering in a new era of family membership for the office-holder. Nevertheless, he had to retire after only two games due to intense discomfort with public appearances.
Handsome Dan IX Active 1953–1959 (died of acute kidney disease). Notable for falling off the dock at the Yale Boathouse and nearly drowning (confirming the hypothesis that bulldogs cannot swim, due to the peculiarities of their physiques); some contemporary news reports say that he had to be resuscitated after having had his head embedded in the mud. He also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in November, 1956. "Danny" was born September 11, 1953, and owned by John E. Sanders, Assistant Professor of Geology, after an earlier custody by physical education instructor Alfred E. Scholz and Varsity Crew Coach Jim Rothschmidt. He made his mascot debut at the age of six weeks and an autopsy at his death revealed that he succumbed to acute nephrotic syndrome.
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