Mississippi - Ole Miss says bye to ole Colonel Reb - for now

Colonel Reb is the traditional sporting mascot of Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"). Designed in the 1930s, the figure served as the teams' official or near-official mascot from 1979 until 2003. To some people, he resembles a white antebellum plantation owner, but to others, he simply resembles the ideal of the "Southern gentleman" of the Antebellum Age.


Hat tip Amren

UPI reports - OXFORD, Miss., Sept. 20 - Ole Miss students and alumni are hotly divided, struggling to find a new mascot replacing antebellum plantation caricature Colonel Reb, school officials say.

The white-bearded, cane-toting Colonel Sanders in Confederate drag hasn't been the Rebels' official team symbol since 2003 -- the school finally yielding to decades of complaints of racial insensitivity -- but allegiance to Colonel Reb is as divided as the old North and South, The New York Times reported Sunday.

"There's no more of a noble cause than continuing the tradition of Colonel Reb," said Levi West, Colonel Reb's doppelganger. "Everyone loves the guy."

"These are new times, we need a new image. But we also just need a mascot," said Ellison Brown, 21, an African-American junior from Jackson. Read more

To hear about the current situation in the state listen to - Radio Free Mississippi