Jonathan XIII & Christie Jackman and Kristy Bassilakis

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

In a 2009 Q & A, Christie Jackman and Kristy Bassilakis, then Co-Chairs of the Alpha Phi Omega Husky Committee from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut (UConn), introduced the UConn mascot, Jonathan XIII.

From the interview:

How did Jonathan XIII get his name?

Jonathan XIII is named after Jonathan Trumble, a Revolutionary War general. The student body voted on the name when they first decided to get a mascot.

Have Jonathans I-XIII always been male?

Yes, the Jonathan dogs have always been male. Most of the Jonathans have been virtually similar, except for Jonathan I who was black and white.

When I hear "UConn husky" I think "Yukon husky." Have you ever introduced Jonathan XIII as the UConn husky and gotten a response like, "He doesn't look Canadian, eh?"

Haha, so far I haven’t gotten any questions like that! Although it’s funny that sometimes people don’t put two and two together and they wonder why we have a dog at the sporting events. But sometimes when people aren’t familiar with UConn I have gotten questions about Yukon, Canada and why I would want to...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue