If you’re a Tar Heel fan or ever been to a game at Kenan Memorial Stadium, you know Daniel Hogan and his 2-year-old Horned Dorset, Otis. If you don’t recognized their names, Otis is also known as Rameses XXII who took over University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ‘live’ mascot duties after after Rameses XXI retired after nearly a decade of loyal service. The first appearance of Rameses was at a pep rally before the football game against Virginia Military Institute on November 8, 1924. The Hogan family has been caring for the Rameses dynasty since the 1920s, now, the fourth generation of Hogan’s to look after Rameses, the origin of a ram as North Carolina's mascot dating back to 1924. Cheerleader Vic Huggins suggested the team make its mascot a ram based on UNC’s star football player, Jack Merritt, who was nicknamed, the ‘Battering Ram.’ Over time, there have been a total of 23 Rameses, including the current, XXII, Otis. I got to spend a glorious November day with Daniel and Otis and honestly, I’ve never seen adoration like I did directed at Otis. The only thing I could liken it to would be walking down a Freehold, NJ street with Bruce Springsteen. As Daniel, myself and Otis were sitting in the back of a trailer driving down Franklin Street towards the Bell Tower and the stadium, people would audibly gasp and yell towards us as they recognized the famous Ram. Definitely a memorable day for this photojournalist!

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