Photo by Jim_Malone.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- When did GU start using bulldogs anyway?
- Great history of the mistakes made and the neighborhood destroyed to build the Whitehurst Freeway. Plus a Morrisey quote.
The Morning Metropolitan
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The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Short answer: “In 1962, a student committee sought a new mascot, choosing a three year Old English Bulldog in the style of Handsome Dan, the Yale mascot. Formally named “Lil-Nan’s Royal Jacket”, Georgetown’s dog was supposed to be called “Hoya” but never seemed to answer to “Hoya” when called. He did answer to the name “Jack”, however, and so the dog was soon given a new name. The name of “Jack” and the breed of English Bulldog was formally adopted, adding the blue and gray cap once worn by freshmen onto its emblem.”
All you ever wanted to know about bulldogs and other canine mascots at Georgetown:
http://www.hoyabasketball.com/history/jack.htm
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/dogs.htm
As Hoya freshmen in 1965, several of us befriended the original Jack (as least I think he was the first). He was a sweet fellow who lived when the weather was good in an enclosure where the back end of Davis Center for the Performing Arts is now located. If my memory serves, he may have been briefly kidnapped by loutish yobs from Fordham at some point. I suspect the arrival of Jack was associated with the revival of football at Georgetown in the early 1960s.