According to MSU information:

This mascot was originally adopted by the “basketball squad,” as it was known at the time, when athletics began at the school. That version is much different than the mascot seen today and represented across Minot on T-shirts, bumper stickers and “The Dome,” where the university hosts basketball games and other events.

The beaver was chosen as the mascot in 1924 partly because of the school’s proximity to the Souris River, where beavers were found more commonly in the 1920s than today; they were likely a daily sight for the faculty and staff. According to the university, the mascot was chosen by a member of the freshman class and presented to the school assembly during a speech. The athletics department chose the animal because it has qualities that one could be proud to associate with. Beavers are seen as smart, strong, skilled, determined and industrious. They also are seen as good natured and loyal.

In 2004, the mascot was dubbed “Buckshot” by a group of more than 700 fourth graders who conducted a poll in the form of a contest. Over the years, it has had several names.

Logo adopted in 1954 featuring a human/beaver character reading a book. Photo: MSU Athletics.

The mascot has had quite the evolution when portrayed in artistic form. It began as something like a tapestry in the 1940s. It was depicted as a pair of beavers chewing logs near a stand of trees, with a river, field and mountains in the background.

The mascot had several further iterations. A beaver with a human torso and head reading a book represented the school in the mid-’50s, and in the late ’50s a human body with a beaver head, wearing early football protective equipment, was preparing for a play. In the ’60s it was a friendly beaver wearing a sweater and hat, waving to the viewer. The ’80s featured a Sunday cartoon-esque characterization of an angry beaver wearing a shirt and ball cap.

The ’90s featured a fierce, bodybuilding beaver, flexing at the viewer. In 2001, the mascot of the athletics department of MSU became the logo that can still be found throughout Minot. It is the beaver climbing up on a green “M,” representing Minot, seemingly protecting it. This was the logo until 2020, when the logo became only the head of Buckshot the beaver, colored red.

Rick Hedberg has been an administrator at Minot State University for 23 years, and during this time he’s had a hand in developing the athletics logo as it existed from 2001-2020. Hedberg currently is vice president for Advancement, which is part of the fundraising arm for the university. Prior to his position in advancement, he was the athletic director for 15 years.

The mascot was “standardized” in the 1970s. Previously, the school didn’t have a standardized and well known logo as it does today, explained Hedberg, saying, “The logo and gear wasn’t as big of a deal back then.”

Logo adopted in 1980 featuring an angry ‘Sunday cartoon’ beaver wearing a shirt and hat. Photo: MSU Athletics.

The beaver is representative of the athletics department, while the academic side of the university is represented by another logo featured on the school’s website.

“Student organizations and clubs often prefer to use the athletic logo, and most get authorization to do so. There are people that use the logo without authorization, but those are few and far between. It hasn’t been a big issue,” Hedberg said.

The school colors were selected as red and green by Huldah Lucile Winstead, who was looking out on the campus and found a mound of geraniums, red flowers with green foliage, according to an exhibit in the student center on campus. Winstead was an original member of the faculty and was a poet, founding member of the Minot Art Club and the Dean of Women at the college.

These colors were incorporated into the 2001-2020 version of the logo in the “M,” representing Minot and differentiating it from other sports teams with the same mascot. Currently the entire logo is red.