Western Kentucky unveiled the greatest (sliding) gloves in college softball as the Hilltoppers look to end their season with a strong push in Conference USA. They feature the funniest and most handsome mascot in the country!
Big Red made its debut on the diamond.
The gloves, which are designed to protect an athlete’s hand and fingers when sliding into a base, were presented to the team earlier this week. Absolutely Ridiculous is a Nashville-based apparel company with a rising presence in the bat-sport space and helped to facilitate the one-of-a-kind product.
Players were pumped!
If you are unfamiliar with Big Red, let this be your introduction. Nobody really knows what the non-binary mascot actually is.
Located on top of a hill, Western Kentucky is known as the ‘Hilltoppers.’ Obviously, that is not a tangible mascot like the Tigers or Bears.
Enter Big Red, the official on-field mascot for WKU.
Multiple different theories exist as to what Big Red might be. Actual answers are minimal.
Here is what the university says about Big Red:
Big Red, Western Kentucky University’s athletic mascot, was born in the fall of 1979 and celebrates its birthday on December 1st. Big Red can be best described as the Spirit of Western!
The huge, furry, lovable creature was originally designed and built by WKU student Ralph Carey, (’80 WKU graduate), of Cincinnati, and made its’ debut during the Hilltoppers’ 1979-80 basketball season. Big Red has become a big hit with fans of all ages throughout the state and the nation. Big Red’s signature moves are the belly slide and belly shake.
— Western Kentucky University
The most widely accepted origin story, detailed by the Bowling Green Daily News, dates back more than four decades.
It couldn’t be an animal, and [creator Ralph] Carey said he wanted to stray as far away from a hillbilly stereotype as possible.
The answer would be found somewhere in between.
Soon, Carey had dreamed up a sketch of the future of Hilltopper athletics – a large, fuzzy, red blob he scribbled on a piece of paper while meeting with future school president Gary Ransdell, who was then working in the office of alumni relations.
“It started, actually, there was a drawing at one point in time, and I have it, of a bear in a sweater with a big ‘W’ on the front of it,” he laughed. “I got through with that drawing and said, ‘This is not where this thing needs to go.’
“I had some experience with some other characters in terms of their abilities to be animated by the wearer. That was also a key element because I was going to end up wearing this thing. I said, ‘How about this?’ and scribbled a Big Red.
“(The committee) kind of looked sideways at it and said, ‘Why don’t you work on that one?’”
Carey returned to the drawing board, refined the character while a deadline approached for its debut.
— Chad Bishop of The Bowling Green Daily News
That doesn’t really really help to clear things up and it’s better that way. The mystery is part of the appeal.
According to the school, the mascot does not have a gender and cannot talk. It must always be red. It must always be shown with WKU on the front. There isn’t much else to it.
This is not the first time that Big Red has been integrated into the school’s uniforms. Western Kentucky’s football team wore seven different helmets featuring its glorious mascot during the same game last year.
Athletics continues to get Big Red involved as often as it can. Why would they not?!