[url]http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/sports/wildcats/8_21_02wilbur_1a.html[/url]
Wilbur tamed: UA takes mascot's pistols
The decision to disarm Wilbur was ridiculed as "disgusting" by the co-owner of a local gun club.
University of Arizona
PAUL L. ALLEN
Tucson Citizen
Aug. 21, 2002
Wilbur Wildcat, the seemingly invincible mascot of the University of Arizona, apparently has met his match: political correctness.
Wilbur's had to turn in his six-shooters.
Phoebe Chalk, UA assistant athletics director for public relations, said the image of Wilbur packing pistols seemed to fly in the face of the campus's drug- and weapons-free rule.
"We talked a year ago about removing his guns, and the change took place," she said. "Wilbur's likeness is used for the Junior Wildcat Club, with children, and we didn't want to have guns in this day and age on a cartoon character."
The decision to disarm Wilbur was made this summer by a campus committee that reviews all UA trademarks and logos.
Call it PC, but in Chalk's opinion, it was the correct decision.
Others are up in arms.
"It's disgusting," said Rick Batory, a retired Pima County sheriff's lieutenant and co-owner of Desert Trails Gun Club & Training Facility, 7777 E. Valencia Road.
"When they were talking about it out here, some of the guys said they were going to cancel their season ticket orders," he said.
Batory ridiculed the move, blaming "a small group of vocal idiots running amok, telling everybody how to live their lives."
"If it goes any further," he said, "the Great Seal of the United States of America will have to be changed, too. The eagle has arrows. They'll have to disarm that sucker, too."
So, what's Wilbur supposed to do to defend himself against his archenemy, Arizona State University mascot Sparky, who's armed with a formidable-looking trident?
"I think Wilbur is a pretty fierce wildcat," said Chalk, who noted that the "live" Wilbur Wildcat, a costumed human who appears at UA sporting events cheering on the crowd, has never been armed.
"He's got teeth and claws and can handle it on his own," she said.
Tweaking UA's logos
The University of Arizona today will announce slight changes to its logos. But UA isn't messing with the "A" familiar to Cat fans.