In his latest column, John Cross ’76 explains the early history
of collegiate mascots and the adoption of the polar bear as
Bowdoin’s, which occured 100 years ago this year. January of
2013 marked the 100th anniversary of an official connection
between polar bears and the College. As part of the celebration
the Bowdoin polar bear was sighted around New York, on NBC’s
“The Today Show,” and on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where Fortune
magazine editor Andy Serwer ’81 tried to reassure one of the
show’s hosts—and Williams College alumna—Mika Brzezinski that
the bear was friendly. In the Winter 1979 issue of the alumni
magazine, the late Professor Ernst Helmreich recounted some
relevant history. Inspired by Robert Peary’s attainment of the
North Pole in 1909 and the beginning of a new chapter in the
history of athletics at Bowdoin with the opening of Sargent
Gymnasium in early January of 1913, the Bowdoin College Athletic
Council voted on January 18th to make the polar bear the
“official animal” of the College, in the