UMES Mascot Wins National Title

PRINCESS ANNE, MD – (Nov. 10, 2014) – Hardwood aficionados have spoken, and the nation’s No. 1 college basketball mascot is: UMES’ Harry T. Hawk.

College Court Report, an upstart website committed to chronicling all things hoops taking place in arenas across higher education’s landscape, named UMES’ mascot as its winner on Monday.

Harry T. easily won an online bracket-style competition styled after the NCAA’s immensely popular tournament known as March Madness. Collectively, Harry T. tallied a whopping 76.3 percent of votes in defeating six opponents (big)-head-to-(big)-head.

College Court Report chose 64 mascots from colleges or universities that play Division 1 basketball and created a win-and-move on contest it dubbed the Mascot Mayhem Challenge.

Harry bested other birds like UNC-Wilmington’s Sammy the Seahawk, The Oregon Duck and YoUDee from the University of Delaware. Testudo from the University of Maryland College Park and Duke’s Blue Devil tried to compete, too, but just couldn’t wing it.

In the end, it was the BIG guy from Princess Anne who emerged from the tournament’s “West” bracket, defeating Bradley University’s Kaboom in the final round of voting that closed Nov. 8.

Harry T. does not grant interviews but issued a statement through UMES’ athletics department expressing “sincere gratitude” to everyone who voted for him over the past several weeks.

“I’ve watched our women’s bowling team win national championships, our women’s volleyball and men’s cross-country teams win conference titles,” Harry T.’s statement said, “and it’s humbling to now be in their company.”

UMES athletics director Keith Davidson called Harry’s win “a real feather in our cap.