100 Years of Devil-Goat Day!

A large group of people outdoors pulling on a rope in a tug‑of‑war, with spectators gathered around on a grassy field bordered by leafless trees and the caption “A Devilish Group.”

1930s

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Note: Yearbook page scans may be low quality due to the age of both the yearbook and the scan.

The 1930s were the first full decade of Devil-Goat Day on campus. The event quickly took off, with the devils and billy-goats1 becoming unofficial mascots of the university, and making frequent appearances in the 1931 Bullet (the student newspaper) and editions of the Battlefield (the yearbook) from 1932 to 1939. Devils vs. Billy-Goats games of field hockey were official club events, with the class year teams being recorded in the Battlefield. Below are images of the competing class years from 1933 and 1934.

(This analysis comes from the sources available to us during the process of the Devil-Goat Day Team’s research.)

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A simple black ink sketch depicting a devil and a goat fighting over a newspaper titled The Bullet. The devil pulls at the paper while the goat chews on it. A broken pitchfork lies on the ground between them, and the caption below asks, "Will the Bullet Be Chewed or Burned?"

Devils & Billy Goats Hockey Teams, 1934

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A vintage black-and-white photo of a women's "DEVIL HOCKEY" team posing outdoors. Twelve women in athletic uniforms stand behind a banner featuring a devil silhouette with a pitchfork and the text "DEVILS." Player names are listed below the image.
A vintage black-and-white photo of a women's "GOAT HOCKEY" team standing on a field. They are holding a banner with a goat illustration and the text "BILLY GOATS." Names are listed below the image.

Mamie Basler’s Scrapbook, 1932

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This scrapbook page focuses on The Bullet newspaper, highlighted by a large pink devil cutout and a masthead naming Miriam Bodine as Editor-in-Chief. It includes humorous clippings like "How to be 'Cute'," annual student statistics, and the "Devil vs. Goat" cartoon.

Scrapbook Page, 1932

This scrapbook page features staff photos and rosters for the Battlefield and Bullet publications alongside the Student Council. Decorative elements include a long red ribbon, a small devil cutout, and a 1933 receipt.

Scrapbook Page, 1932

Goats!

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A lime-green felt cutout of a goat layered onto a brown felt backing. It features yellow-orange felt for the horns and beard, with simple stitched details for the eyes and body contours.
A green fabric cutout of a goat with yellow embroidered outlines for the eyes, horns, and beard. Handwritten in ink on the body is "Gift of: Cassie Brown Simpson Class 1936" and an archival note dated "4-29-83."
A lime-green felt cutout of a goat layered onto a brown felt backing. It features yellow-orange felt for the horns and beard, with simple stitched details for the eyes and body contours.

Mamie Basler’s Scrapbook, 1935

Mamie Basler was a student at the State Teachers College from 1936 to 1940. Basler memorialized much of her time both at Suffolk High School and in college through her scrapbooks, which were donated to the University of Mary Washington’s Special Collections. While the entire scrapbook is not digitized, select pages that reference Devil-Goat Day can be found on this site. For more information, please visit this site to view the item information on the Special Collections website.2

Documentation of the Devil vs. Goat class rivalry is relatively sparse in the earliest years of the event. By the 1930s, the event had begun to pick up more steam. References to the event could be found almost exclusively in students’ scrapbooks like this one:

A paper devil cutout is glued onto the page, with an invitation from seniors to the sophomores to a hayride in late May.

(This analysis comes from the sources available to us during the process of the Devil-Goat Day Team’s research.)

In The Battlefield

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A 1932 yearbook page titled "THE BATTLEFIELD" with the subtitle "The Devil and Goat Brawl." It features a multi-stanza poem describing a campus prank involving a live goat tied to a maple tree. To the left of the text is a black-and-white photograph of a goat standing in a grassy area with a sign behind it that reads "HERE IS OUR GOAT."
A scanned 1932 yearbook page titled "THE BATTLEFIELD," featuring a long poem about a spirited campus rivalry between the "Devils" and the "Goats." A black-and-white photo in the bottom right shows a smiling young woman in rugged outdoor attire posing near evergreen trees.
A black‑and‑white photo of a women’s field hockey team posed outdoors in two rows with their sticks, above printed names and a short narrative.
A black‑and‑white photo of a women’s field hockey team posing outdoors in two rows with their sticks, above a block of printed text.
A printed page titled “The Battlefield 1953” with a humorous alphabetical “Student’s Dictionary” of college terms and a short poem labeled “Parody of the Day” at the bottom.
A page with three black‑and‑white photos: a crowd watching a tug‑of‑war, two people shaking hands outdoors, and a baby lying on a cushioned surface.
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A large group of people outdoors pulling on a rope in a tug‑of‑war, with spectators gathered around on a grassy field bordered by leafless trees and the caption “A Devilish Group.”
  1. In the 1930s, the goats were called ‘billy-goats,’ a term that fell out of favor for unknown reasons. ↩︎
  2. Mamie Basler, 1931-1940, SB1-014, Box: 5, Object: 1. Scrapbooks, MSS.0010. University of Mary Washington Special Collections and University Archives. ↩︎

Want more information about each image? Metadata can be found for each artifact in Collections!

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