Mascot, University of Georgia

The mascot of the University of Georgia is an English Bulldog named Uga. The dogs are from a long line owned by the Frank W. “Sonny” Seiler family of Savannah. Uga I was born in 1955. The nickname from which the mascot derives comes from a 1920 article by Atlanta Journal sports writer Morgan Blake and the use of the term in 1920 by Atlanta Constitution writer Cliff Wheatley. Legend has it that the bulldog association extends back to the strong association of the university with Yale, when UGA was founded in 1785. Georgia’s first president was a Yale graduate, and the early buildings on campus were designed from blueprints of buildings at Yale. Tennessee first played Georgia in football in 1899.