Alumnus James Bilbray unpacked his letter sweater for the upcoming exhibit to commemorate UNLV's 50th anniversary. The former student body president was in the first class of students who earned a letter sweater. In 1959, he had attended a conference with student leaders from other colleges, most of whom sported the then-fashionable sweaters. Bilbray returned to campus and pitched the sweater idea to his fellow students. "I've always enjoyed the fact that the first letter sweaters on campus were for student government, rather than athletics," the Las Vegas attorney says.
Bilbray is responsible for a few other campus firsts. It was his idea to adopt the freshman beanie, a common tradition at larger Eastern schools. Freshmen were supposed to wear the beanies on campus their first semester, but at UNLV the idea just didn't take hold. "I guess it was the rebel coming out in the student body," he says. "That, and we didn't have any fountains to throw students into who were found violating the tradition." His class of student leaders also started University Days, which pitted the classes against one another in sporting events. The capstone event was a muddy tug-o-war.
Bilbray went on to become the first alumnus to serve in several public offices, including the state Legislature and Board of Regents as well as U.S. House of Representatives. He also was the founding president of the UNLV Alumni Association. The Scarlet Letter? The Story Behind UNLV's First Letterman Sweaters Aaron Mayes
About That Mascot: Painted on the wood floor of the campus's first gymnasium, now the Barrick Museum, was the first mascot on campus. "Beauregard" was the rebellious cousin of UNR's Wolf Pack back when UNLV was just the southern division of UNR. At some point the mural was hidden beneath an ichthysaurus skeleton and long forgotten. When the dinosaur bones were moved in the late 1980s, Beauregard was rediscovered and restored to preserve a piece of campus history.
