RIP Naval Academy Mascot Bill the Goat (ICYMI)

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Days before classes start at the United States Naval Academy, midshipmen were mourning the loss of a key part of the facility: Bill the Goat XXXV.

A spirited goat was credited with helping beat archrival Army in 1893, the fourth Army-Navy football matchup, and the role of goat as mascot was solidified.

Bill XXXV, a white purebred Angora goat, was euthanized Aug. 16 at the New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania because of an illness, the Academy said on its website. Doctors determined there was no chance for recovery for the 2-year-old goat.

Bill had ongoing health issues since he arrived at the academy last year, including idiopathic edema, which was caused by chronic kidney weakness, the academy said.

“Due to pain and suffering caused by his condition and a low likelihood of improvement, doctors there determined the best and most humane course of action would be euthanization,” the animal's caretaker said. Naval Academy officials don't release the name or specific location of the goats because of security issues.

The academy still has Bill 35’s twin brother, Bill 36, and retired mascots Bill 33 and Bill 34, who live in the Annapolis area.

Long before midshipmen played football at old Fort Severn, goats were an integral part of Navy life, the academy’s website says. More than 200 years ago, livestock was kept aboard some seagoing naval vessels to provide sailors with food, milk, eggs and, in some cases, pets.

The first service match of the 20th featured a goat borrowed from the USS New York decked out in a fine blanket with a gold "NAVY" emblazoned on both sides. That game in Philadelphia ended with an 11-7 victory for Annapolis, and the goat was led on a victory lap through the train and did not leave the midshipmen until they reached Baltimore.

It was then that the goat was dubbed "Bill." The name was borrowed from a pet goat kept by Commander Colby M. Chester, Commandant of Midshipmen from 1891-1894 and the first president of the Naval Academy Athletic Association, the school says.

Over the years, some mascots of the Academy have met with unusual ends.

In 1968 Bill XVI, a gift from the Air Force Academy, died of accidental poisoning from weed killer sprayed too close to his pen. His successor, Bill XVII, met the same fate three years later.

The mascot appears at home football games and the Army-Navy game. It is sometimes targeted for kidnapping in the days leading up to the rivalry.

»Photo of Bill the Goat from United States Naval Academy's Facebook page