One of the most beloved mascots in all of college sports is an amorphous red blob that hails from the western fringes of the Bluegrass State, illustrating the allure of amateur athletics in America.
That figure is Western Kentucky’s Big Red, who managed to rank atop the state’s favorite mascots list alongside the University of Kentucky’s Wildcat & Scratch and ahead of Big Al the elephant, who is the mascot for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
When people are watching games, sometimes they are curious what the mascot of the team is. With National Mascot Day coming up on June 17th, we wondered what mascots Kentuckians are looking up.
Utilizing Google Trends, BetKentucky.com took a beat from Kentucky sports betting and looked at the search volume of the term “Mascot” over the last 12 months (June 2023 to June 2024) to find the most searched mascots in Kentucky.
Most Searched Mascots In Kentucky
Mascot | Team | Search Interest |
Big Red | Western Kentucky Hilltoppers | 8 |
Wildcat & Scratch | Kentucky Wildcats | 8 |
Big Al (Elephant) | Alabama Crimson Tide | 6 |
Brownie the Elf | Cleveland Browns | 2 |
KC Wolf | Kansas City Chiefs | 2 |
What is Kentucky’s Favorite Mascot?
Surprisingly, of the top five mascots by search volume in Kentucky, only two come from the state itself, in Big Red and Wildcat & Scratch (both of whom drew search interest scores of eight), while the other three are all well outside the state limits.
That trio includes the aforementioned Big Al, who had a search interest score of six in Kentucky to finish third in the state, followed by Brownie the Elf of the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs’ KC Wolf, both of whom drew search interest scores of two.
In Kentucky, when it comes to lovable mascots, it seems that two of the three major public universities in the Bluegrass State have mascots that have endeared themselves to the state’s populace, leaving Louisville’s Cardinal Bird, Morehead State’s Beaker and Northern Kentucky’s Victor E. Viking as the only emblems of the state’s public universities to not make the cut in 2024.
If you enjoyed this piece, look for other lifestyle pieces from BetKentucky, including: Top 10 Least Recognizable State Flags.
USA Today photo by Stephen Lew.
