NC State’s beloved mascots, Mr. and Ms. Wuf have been a campus staple for as long as students can remember, but some can remember even farther back to the dark days before, when only one unnamed wolf mascot existed. How did our lovely mascots come to be together?
Mr. Wuf was living the single life for quite awhile until Ms. Wuf came along during the women’s suffrage movement in the 1970s. With Title IX came official female athletic teams across the nation, and Ms. Wuf appeared at NC State. University Archivist Todd Kosmerick talked about her arrival.
“A significant portion of the student body is not represented when there’s only a male mascot,” Kosmerick said. “So having a female mascot gets, I guess, more the entirety of the student body. … The fact that our mascot is represented in a very traditional female way, you know, maybe needs to be updated, but you can sort of understand where that kind of image was created in the 1970s.”
Ms. Wuf wasn’t completely enamored with Mr. Wuf the minute she was brought on. In fact, they didn’t start going to NC State events together for a little while. Tim Peeler, a writer and editor for University Communications and Marketing and unofficial historian for NC State, explained the initial separation.
“Ms. Wuf was introduced to represent cheerleaders and to be at the newly introduced women’s games,” Peeler said. “They wanted to have their own identity so initially, yes, the first couple of years Ms. Wuf mostly showed up at women’s-only events, but then she became popular.”
It’s no surprise that Ms. Wuf began to garner attention — revolutionary women always do. Eventually, Ms. Wuf began to appear alongside Mr. Wuf at various sporting events, both men’s and women’s. Naturally, Mr. Wuf noticed her glow and knew he needed to put a ring on it — during halftime at an NC State-Wake Forest game on Feb. 28, 1981.
“They did it on center court, before the State-Wake Forest game and they had the Wake Forest mascot, who is an ordained Deacon, to perform the ceremony,” Peeler said. “It was a fun thing and very much the spirit of what ACC basketball was like. At the time, it was the golden era of ACC basketball.”
The wedding, set to a slowed-down version of the NC State fight song, came as good luck for the Wolfpack — NC State won a national championship in men’s basketball in 1983. Despite the nuptials, Ms. Wuf held to her independence, refusing to take on the title of Mrs. Something like the Wufs’ wedding isn’t likely to happen in the future, however.
“If we were to do something like that now, we would have to go through a history committee, a spirit committee, we would have to go through the branding office, all of those different things, but none of that was part of the conversation 50 years ago,” Peeler said.
For the lucky few that get to portray our mascots, there are some rules. Most notably, not to speak. While many couples find themselves in arguments and verbal altercations, the Wufs avoid all that. Mr. and Ms. Wuf prefer nonverbal communication, opting for more expressive hand gestures.
“They won’t speak because their voice might actually give away who that is underneath the costume — Not a costume. You know those are really Mr. and Ms. Wuf, right?” Kosmerick said.
The Wufs are a little private when it comes to their romance, but come to a game and you’ll know the way they interact is the stuff of lifelong commitment. Once a part of the Pack, always a part of the Pack.
“Well, they’ve been married now for 42 years, so they must be compatible,” Kosmerick said.
