Lets Keep Peruna Just The Way He Is!
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2003 11:03 amThe Daily Campus
"If Peruna Goes, I Go"
Letters to the editor
October 10, 2003
Dear Editor:
The editorial last week calling for a change from our historical mascot (since 1933), Peruna, to a full-sized horse was plain and simple mascot envy.
Back in Southwest Conference days when we were good — 2nd in the country good — Peruna was one of the country’s top mascots, and SMU students everywhere loved their determined little pony.
We didn’t need a gigantic horse to compensate back then because our football team beat the hell out of everyone it played. Now, after almost two decades of despair on the football field, the Ed Board has lost its patience and is talking crazy.
Why do away with a central part of our collective SMU soul in favor of a gaudy horse with no connection to the fabric of our university? A horse, no matter how big and fearsome looking, will do nothing to overshadow bitter losses.
When our football team starts winning again, Peruna will once more assume his rightful place among the top tier mascots in the country — provided Peruna handlers run fast, stand tall and refrain at all times from kissing or otherwise caressing the pony on the sideline.
SMU is a small school with big dreams. Peruna is a small horse with a big heart. By selling Peruna out, SMU students would only be degrading themselves.
To do away with Peruna would be a vain act. Doak didn’t need a stallion on the sideline to win the Heisman; Dickerson and James didn’t need a giant horse to win the Southwest Conference, and we certainly don’t need one to win the WAC.
All we need is a couple more years with Coach Bennett and a loyal student body that stands by its traditions.
Respectfully,
Andrew Novak
Former Peruna Handler
<img src="http://www.smu.edu/recsports/images/handlers/2001-2002/handlers.jpg" alt=" - " />
"If Peruna Goes, I Go"
Letters to the editor
October 10, 2003
Dear Editor:
The editorial last week calling for a change from our historical mascot (since 1933), Peruna, to a full-sized horse was plain and simple mascot envy.
Back in Southwest Conference days when we were good — 2nd in the country good — Peruna was one of the country’s top mascots, and SMU students everywhere loved their determined little pony.
We didn’t need a gigantic horse to compensate back then because our football team beat the hell out of everyone it played. Now, after almost two decades of despair on the football field, the Ed Board has lost its patience and is talking crazy.
Why do away with a central part of our collective SMU soul in favor of a gaudy horse with no connection to the fabric of our university? A horse, no matter how big and fearsome looking, will do nothing to overshadow bitter losses.
When our football team starts winning again, Peruna will once more assume his rightful place among the top tier mascots in the country — provided Peruna handlers run fast, stand tall and refrain at all times from kissing or otherwise caressing the pony on the sideline.
SMU is a small school with big dreams. Peruna is a small horse with a big heart. By selling Peruna out, SMU students would only be degrading themselves.
To do away with Peruna would be a vain act. Doak didn’t need a stallion on the sideline to win the Heisman; Dickerson and James didn’t need a giant horse to win the Southwest Conference, and we certainly don’t need one to win the WAC.
All we need is a couple more years with Coach Bennett and a loyal student body that stands by its traditions.
Respectfully,
Andrew Novak
Former Peruna Handler
<img src="http://www.smu.edu/recsports/images/handlers/2001-2002/handlers.jpg" alt=" - " />