Today's Hours:
By Raykel Dufresne, English Intern - Fall 2024
Framingham State University was founded in 1839 as the first state-supported teaching school in the United States. It remained an all-women’s school until 1964 when men were admitted. In the fall of 1967, the decision was made to field a men’s basketball team after the semester break.
The campus newspaper, The Gatepost, supported by the Men’s Athletic Association, ran a campus-wide contest to name the team. Richard Cunningham, Editor-in-Chief, and Larry Houser, Assistant Editor, oversaw the contest; both were members of the fledgling team. Many names were submitted but did not seem to hit the right note.
In 1968 Cunningham and Houser approached Phil Stanton, a professor of the Biology department, for he owned a farm and had a ram as part of his livestock. A deal was struck that he would win the contest with the name The Rams, and, in return, he would provide a live ram for the basketball and later football games.
This endeavor was met with enthusiasm. The custodial staff built a cage to transport the ram (now given the moniker, Ramsee) to the games, and Michael Conway was named “Keeper of the Ram” which meant that he was responsible for all-things ram, including transport. Unfortunately, the ram cage did not fit in the back of Michael’s family’s station wagon, and Ramsee never appeared courtside.
It was not until the home opener of Framingham State’s inaugural football game in 1972 that Ramsee made his first on-campus appearance.
The first Sam the Ram mascot made an appearance in 2002 and since then he’s been an integral part of the college community. Ramsee is memorialized in metal on Crocker Grove and has become an intimate part of the Framingham State fRAMily.
0 Comments.