UMO Black Bear - Orono, ME
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T0SHEA
N 44° 54.181 W 068° 40.197
19T E 526056 N 4972229
Since time immemorial (almost) the major University of Maine at Orono sports teams have been known as the Black Bears.
Waymark Code: WMT1N8
Location: Maine, United States
Date Posted: 09/09/2016
Views: 1
So, it seems strange that the university, which opened its doors for the first time on September 21, 1868, should have had to wait for more than a century to have a sculpture of their school mascot prominently displayed on campus. Such, however, seems to be the case, as UMO Black Bear, (UMO = University [of] Maine [at] Orono) sculpted by Patricia Verani, was dedicated on June 9th, 1979, 111 years after the official opening of the university.
A beautiful bear it is, though, and appropriately fierce in its apparent demeanor, as one would hope a school's sports teams' mascot to be. Both his stance and his expression suggest that he is perfectly willing to gnaw the legs off any opposing school's athlete who should be so unfortunate to venture near. UMO Black Bear stands at the far north end of the common, just south of the Alumni Memorial Gymnasium and Field House, the locus of sporting activity on campus.
In the centre of a bark covered shrub bed, he stands menacingly atop his concrete stele which bears a bronze plaque, apprising us that he was gifted to the university by Mr. & Mrs. Wallace H. Humphrey, "Bud & Gina", alumni of the classes of 1932 and 1933. Though he is painted jet black, we assume him to have been cast in bronze.
