The Billiken, Mascot USL University of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

The Billiken, Mascot USL University of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

My first  attempt at finding the Billiken, turned out to be a failure, instead of finding this little "creature" I found a Edward Scissor-hands hedge version on USL's campus (after a Stop Light Camera Flash). Satisfied, I thought I had found my Roadside Holy Gail, but no (thank you GPS). The true Billiken is located on the campus of the University of St Louis in front of their Chaifetz Arena.athletic facility.


The mascot looks like the results of fraternity formal with the Grinch, Spock and Buddha hooking up to produce this elf like pointy eared offspring with mischievous smile and a tuft of hair on his pointed head.


The brain child of this is a Missouri art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz who patented the design of this creature in 1908. In the 1900's, for about 6 months the Billiken was all the rage. As a symbol of good luck you could find its image on dolls and just about anything around the house from glass bottles to pickle forks (?)
SLU acquired the Billiken as its mascot due to its uncanny likeness to its football coach in 1910, John Bender. The team became known as Bender's Billikens. The mascot continues to bring luck to the SLU sports teams. They say if you buy a Billiken it will give you luck, but if you are given one as a gift it is even better luck.