What Is a Hoya Dog?

The Hoya dog is not a breed of dogs. This is the name of the Georgetown University Hoyas Football Team; a dog mascot responded to the 'Hoya' cheering so well that he was dubbed Hoya and inspired the name. Historians say that it was about 1919 after the World War I ended that the Georgetown stumbled upon a dog by the name of Stubby who loved to push the ball around field. The crowd loved Stubby and the routine of the dog pushing the ball around in the field for good luck became a treasured routine.

  1. The First Hoya Dog

    • The first Hoya dog was a bull-terrier by the name of "Jazz Bo." The Rev. Vincent McDonough, ho was then the Prefect of Discipline and Moderator of Athletics at the University of Georgetown, nurtured and trained this dog. Gradually the people and media baptized the "Blue and Gray'" football team "Hoyas" and the name stuck.

    The Line of Hoyas

    • The second Hoya mascot dog was Butch, a calm and lovable Great Dane who was a great favorite of newspaper photographers. Butch enjoyed and increased the fame of the football team throughout his tenure. On his retirement due to old age, the mantle of the Hoya dog mascot went back to the bull-terrier breed, but this time it was a person in a dog costume.

    The Return of the Hoya Dog

    • In 1962 a group of students endeavored to get the live Hoya dog mascot on the field. In spite of non-cooperation from the University's administration which refused to put forward finances for this project, the students went ahead and got Jack I, a purebred English bulldog as a mascot. Jack I became the Hoya mascot and reigned for four years; in 1967 he handed over the mantle to Jack II, another wonderful but younger English bulldog.

    The Tradition Continues

    • The line of Hoya dogs continues and many dogs have worn the mantle of the Hoya team mascot. Intermittently, the mascot role was donned by students wearing a dog costume, but the Hoya dog is still identified with the English bulldog breed.