Hilbert College Athletics

Hilbert's Mascot History

The story starts back in 1970 when it is believed by many that Hilbert's first mascot was selected -- sort of by accident.  It was the height of the cold war and a new resident had moved onto campus -- the first goose.  The goose was welcomed on campus and rumor has it that the student decided to name him 'Nikita Goosechev"  (in reference to Nikita Khurshchev, the former First Secretary of the communist party in the Soviet Union).
 

When it was decided that the goose would become the unofficial mascot, he was renamed "Gilbert the Goose" or "Gilbert from Hilbert."  The tale continues that, eventually, it was decided that a Goose was not known for its ability to conquer an opponent and the decision was made to pick another bird, and the hawk was selected. In 2010, the students participated in a vote to name the Hawk.  About 100 kids participated and a team of students, faculty, and staff decided to name him Francis.  Francis has since retired and passed the torch to the next in line.   Bert was officially introduced to the Hilbert campus in the summer of 2013 It was an emotional day, but Francis helped move Bert in to Trinity Hall in the Fall of 2013.