Critter: Wilbur T. Wildcat

Rebel yell: Give me an A-R-I-Z-O-N-A!

On the job: Formally I'm known as the University of Arizona's mascot, but most people know me as Wilbur T. Wildcat. My best gal, Wilma, and I can be found on the sidelines of many UA sporting events cheering for the Cats.

A perfect pair: Wilma and I tied the knot on Nov. 21, 1986 during an Arizona State game.

Not the first: The UA's original mascot was a live bobcat called Rufus Arizona, named after then-President Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The bobcat was bought by the freshman football team as a gift to the school in 1915. Rufus (the mascot) met an untimely death the following year when he was practicing gymnastic stunts on the limbs of a tree to which he was tied. Several other live mascots were used in the following years, but I made my debut as the first costumed mascot in 1959 and have been around ever since.

Nemesis: Most Tucsonans know that I love to hate my rival, Arizona State mascot Sparky the Sun Devil.

Origin of the Wildcats: Bill Henry, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, reported that the Arizona men "showed the fight of wildcats" when they played a football game against Occidental College in 1914. The student body later voted to change the university's athletic team name from the "Varsity" to the "Wildcats."