UT defends safety measures despite Bevo's lunge

When Bevo XV, a longhorn steer, first took the field in 2016 as the University of Texas football team's mascot, his handlers said the animal was built like a sturdy linebacker but docile enough to withstand shotgun blasts and air horns without even blinking.

Bevo showed the linebacker side of his personality during pregame activities at the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday when he lunged through a makeshift corral, clipping two photographers and forcing onlookers to duck, dive or otherwise scramble out of harm's way. Based on videos of the incident, it appears that, but for a few inches, the photographers and another person might have been seriously injured.

Things could've gone better, but you gotta love a little Texas Fight.pic.twitter.com/LnpBtc1JsW

— Longhorn Network (@LonghornNetwork)January 2, 2019

UT officials, however, gave no indication that they plan to step up safety precautions for a mascot weighing about 1,700 pounds.

“All of the established safety measures for Bevo at home and away football games were in place at the Sugar Bowl last night," John Bianco, a spokesman for UT's Athletics Department, said in an emailed statement. "The handlers that are with him at all times are well-educated, trained and did their job.” He did not elaborate.

It's unclear what spooked Bevo. He broke out of the corral as the University of Georgia's mascot, an English bulldog named Uga, was being walked on a leash in a sort of mascot-meets-mascot photo opp. The two had met a day earlier, apparently without incident.

"He (Bevo) got me in the back," said Nick Wagner, an American-Statesman photographer who had been taking photos of Uga. "I don't know whether it was his horn or his snout, but I think it was his horn. His right horn came around and clocked me in the face along the cheekbone."

Wagner said he was bruised and sore but otherwise OK. "I’ll just keep my head on a better swivel and pay him more respect in the future," he added.

Videos of the incident show that, in addition to Wagner, two women avoided serious injury.

Angela Wang, a UT student and photographer with The Daily Texan student newspaper, can be seen ducking as Bevo's right horn swings over her head. She said on Twitter that she initially thought a barricade had bumped her head, but that "from footage, it actually looks like" it was the horn. An unidentified woman dived away from Bevo, apparently escaping contact with the animal but landing sprawled on the ground. She quickly recovered a shoe that had fallen off and moved farther away.

Bevo XV, who will be 4 years old Jan. 24, is owned by Betty and John T. Baker, operators of the Sunrise Ranch in Liberty. They told the Statesman that the steer weighs about 1,700 pounds but referred other questions to the university.

The Silver Spurs, a student group, serve as Bevo's handlers and caretakers. The Spurs' website describes Bevo XV as "one of the friendliest and manageable" Bevos in UT's history. Leaders of the group were driving Bevo back to Austin on Wednesday and were unavailable for comment.

This isn't the first Bevo to get rambunctious.

Bevo VI, who was brought from Fort Griffin State Park in 1955, could not tolerate the screaming and confusion of football games. During halftime against Rice University, he broke loose and ran over the Owls' bench, according to Margaret Catherine Berry's book, "UT Austin Traditions and Nostalgia." He was relegated to pasture.

Bevo X's temper flared when he saw the color red or smelled perfume. Even Bevo V, considered one of the tamest to serve as mascot, had his moments. Acquired in 1950, he once raised a ruckus during an overnight stay in a Chicago stable. When the stable operator tried to calm him, the steer kicked him. The man retaliated by raising the price he was charging UT for hay, according to an article in the Alcalde, the magazine of UT's Ex-Students' Association.