Long live the king

Dan Renzetti

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The Yale Visitor Center has long displayed, under glass, the taxidermied remains of former mascot Handsome Dan II (d. 1937). Now the center has an even better attraction: Handsome Dan XIX, Yale’s brand-new mascot, born in January and introduced to the world in March. After Dan XVIII relinquished his life as a “working royal” and moved with his human to New York City, Yale decided that Kassandra Haro ’18—who coordinates tours at the center—would be the new dog’s caretaker.

Haro jumped at the chance. She was “the designated dog sitter” in her family, she says, and taking care of an outrageously cute puppy is “a dream assignment.”

The new Dan is an Olde English Bulldogge, a relatively new breed that’s hardier than the more common English Bulldog. (His predecessor was an O.E.B. too; in fact, the old Dan is the new Dan’s uncle.) The Dans traditionally have a “home name” in addition to their title. Haro chose “Kingman” for the new pup, in honor of former Yale president Kingman Brewster Jr. ’41, whom she came to admire while transcribing Yale women’s memories of coeducation. Also, she says, “I think it has a regal quality.”