Ohio State's Buckeye Mascot Explained

May 2024 ยท 1 minute read

According to Ohio State, the word "Buckeye" was first applied to an Ohioan in 1788, more than a decade before the midwestern area became a state. Native Americans were said to have given Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, a delegate at a Northwest Territory court session, the name of "Hetuck" โ€” their word for "buckeye" โ€” perhaps because he was, at 6'4", nearly as tall as a tree. It was his nickname the rest of his life, and eventually became adopted by all Ohioans. But no one better deserves the nickname more than Brutus Buckeye โ€”  the Ohio State mascot for more than 50 years who basically resembles a humanoid buckeye nut (via Ohio State).

If you look at Ohio State helmets, you might see yet another emblem of the Buckeye tree, in the form of a sticker bearing the tree's leaf. It's awarded for meritorious on-field performance, so a helmet with a lot of stickers might belong to a particularly formidable player.

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