Starkville’s most prestigious office had a peaceful transition Saturday.
In front of thousands of Mississippi State faithful at the Bulldog spring football game, Bully XXI “Jak” inherited the leather harness from his father, Bully XX “Champ,” as well as the power and responsibility that comes with it.
Jak, an English bulldog, will spend the next years attending MSU’s home football games; getting his own seat on flights to the football team’s bowl games; cheering on the MSU basketball team; supporting baseball and softball when the weather isn’t too hot; cheering up children at local elementary schools; and being a companion for senior citizens.
Champ is heading another direction: To his favorite recliner, some ESPN and the occasional sip of beer. When he really wants to relax, a Tempur-Pedic dog bed and fan embroidered with “Bully XX” will serve him well. At 70 years old in dog years, he’s earned it.
“It’s just like a person who retires,” said MSU mascot handler Lisa Pritchard. “He’s 70 years old, he deserves his feet put up.”
Making it official
Pritchard is trainer, owner and best friend to the official Bully bulldogs. She found the bloodline they are bred from, and turned a casual role at football games into a full-time university employee.
Pritchard works at the MSU veterinary school, where she serves as head technician of internal medicine and oncology. On Thursday, she gave four dogs chemotherapy treatments. Then she met with a Dispatch reporter to talk about her other duty at MSU — official mascot handler.
Bully as we know him today is a dog bred specifically to deal with crowds and children and thousands of cowbells, but before Pritchard it wasn’t like that. When she arrived at MSU in 1993, she took over for the vet technician who handled mascot responsibilities. In those days, Bully was simply the best looking bulldog owned by local alumni. He would be picked up from his owners, brought to the vet school for grooming and then to Davis-Wade Stadium for games.
After the 1997-98 season, Pritchard wanted to change that. The Bully donated by MSU alumni that year was ill-equipped to be a mascot.
“He didn’t handle the crowds and the noise very well,” she said.
So she sat down with then athletic director Larry Templeton and gave him a proposal.
“Mississippi State needs its own dog,” she remembers telling him. “We need to get it as a puppy and train it. We need this exposure. He said, ‘That’s a good idea. Go find me a dog.'”
Finding Bully
Pritchard already had a bloodline in mind. A man named Willy Wilson, who she had worked with in Eupora, had once bred bulldogs. Pritchard wanted that line and reached out to bulldog breeders statewide, who she said are a tight-knit community.
“With bulldog breeders, one contact can give you three more,” Pritchard said.
Eighteen months after the search began, she found the Wilson bloodline in Waynesboro. The Wilson-line bulldogs had the traits she wanted: Even-tempered and a thick, short body shape.
Pritchard made the university’s selection from the Wilson-line litter in 2001, bringing nine-week-old “TaTonka Gold,” a.k.a Bully XIX.
English bulldogs registered through the American Kennel Association have formal names which honor their bloodlines. “TaTonka” is a Native American word for buffalo. “Gold” was the name of Bully XIX’s mother.
TaTonka served as MSU’s mascot from 2001-2008. He also served as Pritchard’s best friend and in-house companion.
“He was literally pathologically attached to me,” she said.
TaTonka retired from his mascot duties in 2008, but continued living with Pritchard until he died in 2011. A small, charismatic woman with an eager smile, it’s easy to see why she’s the right fit to be Bully’s keeper. Not giving the retired Bully away to an alum was one of Pritchard’s conditions with Templeton.
‘Champ is an introvert, but his son loves spotlight’
Alumni and fans, can, however, get their paws on the Bully bloodline. When TaTonka and his son, Champ, formally known as “TaTonka’s Golden Sun,” approached retirement, Pritchard began looking for an ideal mate to breed the next generation of mascots. She reviewed bloodlines and pedigrees of potential suitors to find a dog with no genetic ties to Bully, because inbreeding can accelerate diseases and issues common to bulldogs, such as respiratory issues and allergies.
Bully has a $4,000 stud fee, but that’s an investment. After Pritchard selects the pick of the litter, the mother’s owners can sell the remaining pups for as much as $5,000. Six months ago, Pritchard picked Jak, formally know as “Cristil’s Golden Prince” — an homage to his bloodlines and the late voice of MSU athletics Jack Cristil.
But just being from the right bloodline doesn’t guarantee success, the dogs must be transformed into Bully.
“When Champ came along as a puppy, there was a huge training period,” Pritchard said.
TaTonka played a big role in Champ’s training, she said. Champ is now doing the same for his son, Jak. Champ is a bit of an introvert, but his son loves the spotlight.
“Jak is just like his grandfather, he wants somebody touching him everyday,” Pritchard said.
When Jak sat in her office, he placed his butt squarely on Pritchard’s foot.
The harness has been passed. Now Jak will bask in the attention of the crowds and Champ will dedicate his remaining days to his full-time job as Pritchard’s best friend.
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