Proof Bucky Badger is the #1 B1G Mascot
Bucky Badger is not racially questionable
So this category is perhaps a little unfair because I’m clearly targeting just one school. In 2007, the NCAA barred Illinois from continuing its “Chief Iliniwek” tradition deeming it “hostile and abusive toward American Indians.”
My grandparents once lived in Champaign-Urbana. My grandfather had Ilini tickets for football and men’s basketball. My dad once witnessed the horrible spectacle of Chief Ilinewek’s halftime dance at an Illinois game. Evidently the original Peter Pan would be considered progressive on American Indian issues compared to that awful Illinois show. I will not link to the dance but it is of course all over YouTube. As my grandma would complain, years after the NCAA ruling people were writing the local paper complaining about the decision.
Eliminated: Illinois Fighting Ilini