5 things you don't know about... THE HOKIE BIRD

Source, VA Tech Magazine, Fall 2002

1. The first Hokie Bird costume, known then as the Gobbler, was designed in 1960 and cost $200 -- $180 of it was raised from civilian VT students and the Student Body Senate paid the rest.

2. The Hokie Bird (then Gobbler) was first presented at the last game of the 1962 football season -- on Thanksgiving Day.

3. The first Hokie Bird’s tail feathers were real turkey feathers dyed orange and maroon. People often tried to steal them for keepsakes during games, so they were occasionally replaced with orange and maroon crepe paper.

4. The long-necked Hokie Bird was designed to look more like a turkey, or gobbler, but was changed by Bill Dooley, athletic director in the late 1970s, when he heard that the nickname, “The Gobbler” came from the way the cadets were said to have “gobbled” their food.

5. Today’s well-known Hokie Bird was introduced at the 1987 season-opener when he arrived at the game in a white limousine accompanied by two men dressed as secret service agents.