NMSU is one of few colleges nation wide with a specifically male mascot; many other mascots are gender neutral. (Photo illustration by Heather Lang)

Story by Heather Lang

Although the student body at New Mexico State University is mostly female, the female presence is invisible in Pistol Pete, the school mascot.

In the winter of 2002, NMSU student Julie Bostick Montgomery, agriculture major, attempted to implement a female mascot, Pistol Patty, to accompany Pistol Pete at sporting events. Montgomery said she started thinking about adding the mascot at NMSU while preparing for a speech in a communications class.

At the time, NMSU shared copyrights to the Pistol Pete image and costume with the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University, Montgomery said, adding that she felt a female mascot could help set NMSU apart from the other Aggie schools and make the image of NMSU more representative of its student body.

“I thought (Pistol Patty) would fit in well with the women’s teams,” Montgomery said.

 Support for “a girl”

Montgomery said she took up the cause as an individual venture, but got a lot of support from then College of Agriculture and Home Economics staff as well as former dean Jerry Schickedanz.

To gauge support for Pistol Patty, Montgomery said she met with representatives in the Athletics Department, the alumni office and the vice president of advancement. Montgomery and Associated Students of NMSU Senator Erin McSherry worked together to have a resolution for Patty’s creation passed through ASNMSU.

Although the Montgomery said she received a lot of positive feedback for the initiative, Pistol Patty never became a reality.

The student said lack of funding and administration resistance to changing campus traditions may have had a hand in Patty’s demise. Montgomery’s proposal included a $10,000 budget to redesign Pistol Pete and create Pistol Patty’s costume.

“I was really excited about it,” Montgomery said, “and I would have tried out for it.”

According to a 2005 Athletics Department press release, Pistol Pete was redesigned in 2005 and is no longer shared with OSU or Wyoming. The University of Wyoming also redesigned its own Pete in 2002, according to the Wyoming Official Athletics Web site.

Although neither Wyoming nor OSU has female mascots in addition to their own renditions of Pistol Pete, they refer to their men’s and women’s teams as the cowboys and the cowgirls. Of the seven other universities with Aggie monikers, Cameron University in Lawton, Okla., is the only one with a gender-specific male mascot. Five others use gender-neutral animals, and the Texas A&M University Aggies are represented by Reveille, a female dog.

UNM has Lucy

The Aggies’ rival, the University of New Mexico, added its own female mascot, Lobo Lucy, in the 1980s, according to the UNM Web site. As of 2008, the UNM student body was 58 percent female.

There might not be any plans to resurrect Patty at this time, but some say the mascot could be beneficial to the university and Athletics Department.

Some say creating a female mascot could help all students feel represented. (Photo by Heather Lang)

Professor Mike Hyman, who teaches marketing and sports marketing, said mascots serve as rallying icons for university teams and their supporters and a female mascot, Hyman suggested Lariat Lisa, could compliment Pete and soften his “gun-toting” image.

“There is no advantage, other than (to keep) tradition, to limiting NMSU to a male mascot,” Hyman said.

There could be financial rewards for implementing Patty as well, Hyman said.

“A female mascot could boost sales of NMSU-related merchandise,” Hyman said.

Because mascots serve as a uniting symbol for the university, a female mascot could serve as a symbol of pride for women in the academy because students and alumni often identify with their alma mater, college assistant professor Mary Benanti said.

“I have not identified personally with Pistol Pete myself,” Benanti said.

Benanti, a professor of women’s studies, said although she is loyal to NMSU, Pistol Pete is not an image that speaks to her as a woman.

“So the question is, how many other people feel that way,” Benanti said.

As of 2009, the NMSU student body was 55 percent female, according to the NMSU Department of Institutional Research 2009-10 Factbook.

Pete’s plenty

D.J. Downs, who has served as the Pistol Pete mascot at NMSU for three years, said he feels Pistol Pete is already representative of the NMSU community and southern New Mexico.

“I think one characteristic (NMSU, southern New Mexico and Pistol Pete) share is being tough-skinned,” Downs said. “I think the people of New Mexico State and the Las Cruces communities are hard workers. They are people that know the value of a hard day’s work,” he added.  ”I believe Pistol Pete does, too.”

Downs said in his time portraying Pistol Pete, he has come to know a lone-ranger character that does not need a human partner.

“He is one of the characters in movies where he saves the day, but instead of allowing them to throw a parade or party for him he just quietly rides off into the sunset. Just Keystone, his horse, and Pete,” Downs said. “In some sense, Keystone is his partner.”

Benanti and Downs said adding a female mascot could result in a campus backlash, similar to the backlash in 2005 when Pistol Pete was redesigned with a lasso rather than his trademark pistols.

Downs also cautioned that adding a female mascot could alienate fans who might expect the duo to hold hands or kiss. Downs also said he would be concerned that a “humanoid” female mascot could be harassed by men in the stands.

“I mean, when you put a woman out there in tight pants, chaps and a vest, I think you may be asking for some difficult situations to arise,” Downs said.

Students are on both sides of the fence when it comes to feeling represented by the NMSU mascot.

Celia Calles, a psychology major, said she feels well-represented by Pistol Pete as he is.

“I believe (Pistol Pete) represents the heritage of the area as well as NMSU,” Calles said. “Besides, Pistol Pete is more appealing than Lasso Larry.”

Calles said she has never considered what a female mascot might mean for NMSU, but she wouldn’t be opposed to the idea.

However, Matthew Schwarz, a communications major, said Pistol Pete is irrelevant to NMSU.

“While is a fun mascot, he has nothing to do with the school itself,” Schwarz said, “and we unfortunately share him with other schools.”

Schwarz said he thinks its time for NMSU to get a new, more representative mascot, that would be individual to NMSU.

“Pistol Pete just needs to be recycled,” he said, “and not Lasso Larry recycled.”

Schwarz said adding a female mascot would better represent the school, considering the male to female ratio on campus.