B U L L E T I N Taft Portrait of a Graduate - The Taft School

AROUND THE POND
Why a Rhino
How the rhino became Taft’s mascot is
a story of a popular movement, and it
never would have happened were it not
for two unusual circumstances. In the
late 1980s, there was a Taft student who
ended up with the nickname “Rhino”
because of the way he ran while playing
soccer. Headmaster Willy
MacMullen ’78 coached the soccer
team then, and recalls that this student
was funny, spirited, and well loved.
Around the same time, student
monitors did a poll to come up with a
school mascot, which Taft didn’t have
at the time. Other private schools were
choosing mascots then and Tafties
wanted one of their own. They were,
as Willy says, “looking for the Big Red
what” And though no one saw the
poll as particularly serious, students
took interest.
The big beast welcomes all inside the Donald F. McCullough Athletic Center. “The Taft
Rhino” is a gift of the Classes of 1999 and 2000. SAM DANGREMOND ’05
PETER FINGER
One of the many
ideas, some almost too
gruesome to name (the
Big Red Bloodworms,
for instance), was the
Big Red Rhino. After
the student poll, the results
were announced
in an assembly and the
winning mascot name
would be chosen by
applause. When the
“Big Red Rhinos” was
named the audience
went wild with cheering,
chanting, and
clapping. In fact, the
students came up with
the mascot name as
somewhat of a joke.
Nothing was ever official
about the choice of
the rhino, nor was it
formally announced.
“It wasn’t an instant
hit,” Assistant Headmaster
Rusty Davis pointed out. “It took
a few years to take off—it died and then
came back as an idea.” Some time after
the student poll, rhinos began appearing
all over campus—on T-shirts and posters.
“Part of the reason it caught on,” said
Davis, “was that no team is known as the
Rhinos. They might be the Tigers, the
Bulldogs, but not the Rhinos.”
“The fact that it began as a joke and
became ingrained spoke to how perfect
it was,” Willy notes. “It became the Taft
rhino not by some conscious design,”
Willy added, “but by stories and rituals
passed down. It became part of the cultural
fabric of the school and took on a
life of its own.” The rhino choice actually
spoke of strength, power, and humor,
although it’s likely none of that was factored
in when the students adopted it.
By 1990, at the Centennial celebration,
the rhino suit made its appearance.
Soon after the rhino was everywhere—
on hats, T-shirts, books, stationery,
yearbooks, and suited up at sports events.
Looks like it’s here to stay.
Taft Bulletin Summer 2003
11