Georgetown's Mascot: The Evolution of "Jack the Bulldog"

Georgetown has a long tradition of live mascots dating back to the early 1920s. While Georgetown's early mascots included several breeds, Jack the Bulldog's 1962 arrival on campus established Georgetown's bulldog mascot tradition. Jack can be found strolling the sideline at University football games or out and about for leashed walks around campus. 

Early mascot predecessors

The earliest record of a dog on campus comes from an 1873 edition of the Georgetown College Journal. In the 1860s, a terrier named “Rough and Ready” had guarded the University kitchen and bakery from thieving students until his untimely death in a dog fight with a bulldog named “Pompey Gavin.”1

Stubby

Georgetown’s first semi-official mascot was “Stubby,” a dog of uncertain breed but regarded as a “Boston Bull.” Living as a stray, Stubby came across the 102nd Infantry while they trained at Yale2. When the 102nd deployed to France in 1917, Stubby joined them3. There he thwarted the attempted escape of an enemy prisoner for which he was honored by both France and the United States4. Stubby survived a shrapnel wound and returned to the United States with his owner, J. Robert Conroy5.

When Conroy attended Georgetown University Law School, Stubby joined him at many a University football game6. Stubby entertained the fans during halftime chasing the football around the field7. When Stubby died in 1926, his loss was mourned in The Hoya and his remains preserved and displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.8, 9

Hoya and Butch (1923-1951)

A terrier owned by Rev. Vincent McDonough, S.J. a faculty moderator of athletics, followed Stubby. Originally known as “Jazz Bo,” the terrier was renamed “Hoya.” Like Stubby, Hoya attended University football games through the 1920s.10

After WWII, a Great Dane named “Coulson’s Hoya” a.k.a. “Butch” took up the mascot mantle11. Originally a mascot for a group in Georgetown’s Army Training Program, Butch remained on campus when his owner deployed12. He attended many campus events and was frequently featured in the newspapers — with a birthday cake, with the Georgetown cannon, and posing as a photographer13.

In 1947, a group of Fordham students stole Butch, but a group of Georgetown students (including William Peter Blatty (CAS '50), the future author of The Exorcist) stole Butch back, along with Fordham's new ram mascot14. After Butch’s retirement, the University briefly turned to a person in a Boston bull terrier costume until the suspension of football in 1951 alleviated the need for a mascot.15

The first Jacks (1962-1977)

In 1962, Stan Samorajczyk and John Feldmann, two sports editors for The Hoya, led a movement to bring back a live mascot16. The pair helped form the Georgetown Mascot Committee, which eventually received university permission to purchase a bulldog17. In November 1962, the Mascot Committee bought Lil Nan's Royal Jacket, a three-year-old male bulldog18. Despite the oft-repeated story that Jack only answered to "Jack" instead of "Hoya", his intended name, the Hoya article chronicling Jack's arrival on campus does not mention this19. 

Only months after his arrival at Georgetown, Jack was kidnapped by a group of Maryland students ahead of a Georgetown-Maryland basketball game20. The Maryland kidnappers gave Jack to a group of Holy Cross students, who probably intended to bring him to a Georgetown-Holy Cross basketball game21. However, a pair of Georgetown students found Jack in a car on the day of the game and freed him22.

Three “Jack the Bulldog(s)” followed the first Jack, until 1977 when the University again replaced the live mascot with a student in a blue and gray bulldog costume.23

Jack's return (1999-)

In the 1980s, Georgetown’s costumed mascot was accompanied by Rocky, a bulldog owned by a University student. In the late 1990s, a bulldog named Daisy attended a few University basketball games. On February 16, 1999, the University again invested in a full-time mascot. 

The senior class wanted a bulldog for Senior Parents Weekend and the last home basketball game of the season, and with $1,500 raised by the seniors, the University bought a bulldog puppy and named him Jack24. Jack lived with Rev. Scott Pilarz, S.J. a University chaplain and professor in the English Department25. In 2003, when Rev. Pilarz was named President of the University of Scranton, Jack moved to Pennsylvania with him.26

The University replaced Jack that year with Jack Sr., who lived with Fr. Christopher Steck, S.J. on the fourth floor of New South27. In 2005, Jack Sr. began performing his “box trick” at Georgetown basketball games where he would attack and rip up a box painted in the opposing team’s colors28. The “Jack the Bulldog” statute installed outside the Healy Family Student Center in September 2019 is modeled after Jack Sr.29

In 2012, bulldog breeders Janice and Marcus Hochstetler donated Jack Jr., known familiarly as “J.J.,” to learn under Jack in a “mentor-mentee relationship.” 30Unfortunately, the sixth bulldog to serve as Georgetown’s mascot lasted little more than a year. 31After an incident where J.J. bit a child, a University settlement with the parents, and an evaluation by experts, the University retired J.J. from the mascot position.32

Two weeks after J.J.’s official departure, the University selected a new Jack, formally known as John B. Carroll. During his six-year tenure, Jack delighted Georgetown basketball fans with his signature trick of skateboarding across the court during halftime. 33John B. Carroll retired in 2019 and was succeeded by John F. Carroll in August of 201934.

John F. was born in Alberta, Canada but moved to Valley Center, California where, like his predecessor, he trained with the Hochstetlers35.  Jack could often be seen on walks around campus and the Georgetown neighborhood and typically attended home basketball games riding in a remote controlled car. The University announced that Jack died in July 2023, at the age of 4, from an undisclosed illness15. No plans have been announced for Jack's successor.

• 1“Death of Rough.” Georgetown College Journal, Vol. 1 No.10 Nov. 1873, p.1.
• 2Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 3Richmond, Derek. "From Mascot to Military, Stubby Left Pawprints on Hilltop and Beyond." The Hoya. 4 November 2003.
• 4Richmond, Derek. "From Mascot to Military, Stubby Left Pawprints on Hilltop and Beyond." The Hoya. 4 November 2003.
• 5Richmond, Derek. "From Mascot to Military, Stubby Left Pawprints on Hilltop and Beyond." The Hoya. 4 November 2003.
• 6Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 7Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 8Stubby, Smithsonian National Museum of American History. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_439710
• 9“‘Stubby’ Former G.U. Mascot Dies.” The Hoya. 26 March 1926, p.3.
• 10“‘Hoya’ New Mascot.” The Hoya. 18 Oct. 1923, p.6.
• 11Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 12Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 13Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 14Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 15Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 15Steele, Evie. "Beloved Campus Mascot Jack the Bulldog Dies After Brief Illness." The Hoya, July 13, 2023.
• 16Collins, Art. "Mascot Back On Campus To Spur Fighting Spirit." The Hoya. 15 November 1962.
• 17Collins, Art. "Mascot Back On Campus To Spur Fighting Spirit." The Hoya. 15 November 1962.
• 18Collins, Art. "Mascot Back On Campus To Spur Fighting Spirit." The Hoya. 15 November 1962.
• 19Collins, Art. "Mascot Back On Campus To Spur Fighting Spirit." The Hoya. 15 November 1962.
• 20Samorajczyk, Stan. "Jack Safely Returned, Culprits Still At Large." The Hoya. 14 February 1963.
• 21Samorajczyk, Stan. "Jack Safely Returned, Culprits Still At Large." The Hoya. 14 February 1963.
• 22Samorajczyk, Stan. "Jack Safely Returned, Culprits Still At Large." The Hoya. 14 February 1963.
• 23Reynolds, Jon K. “The Dogs of Georgetown.” Georgetown Magazine. Sept.-Oct. 1983.
• 24Richmond, Derek. “Jack the Bulldog, Far From Your Average Roommate.” The Hoya. 12 Nov. 2002.
• 25Richmond, Derek. “Jack the Bulldog, Far From Your Average Roommate.” The Hoya. 12 Nov. 2002.
• 26Richmond, Derek. “Jack the Bulldog, Far From Your Average Roommate.” The Hoya. 12 Nov. 2002.
• 27Fedor, Kristen. "Jack the Bulldog Sr. Leaves Legacy of Love." The Hoya. 7 June 2015.
• 28Fedor, Kristen. "Jack the Bulldog Sr. Leaves Legacy of Love." The Hoya. 7 June 2015.
• 29Berry, Maddie. “New Statute Outside HFSC Honors Jack the Bulldog Mascot.” The Hoya. 11 Oct. 2019.
• 30Roberts, Roxanne. “Georgetown’s Top Dog Gets an Apprentice.” The Washington Post. 30 March 2012.
• 31Roberts, Roxanne. “Georgetown’s Top Dog Gets an Apprentice.” The Washington Post. 30 March 2012.
• 32Hinchliffe, Emma. “From Mascot to Pet: A New Home for JJ.” The Hoya, 27 Aug. 2013.
• 33Bieler, Des. “Jack the Bulldog. . .on a skateboard? Jack the Bulldog on a skateboard.” The Washington Post. 11 Dec. 2014.
• 34Rogerson, Riley. “New Jack the Bulldog Puppy Begins Mascot Duties.” The Hoya. 29 Aug. 2019.
• 35Rogerson, Riley. “New Jack the Bulldog Puppy Begins Mascot Duties.” The Hoya. 29 Aug. 2019.