Nearly every day, John Graves drives out to the ranch where Colorado’s iconic mascot, Ralphie V, lives and he’s always greeted by the enthusiastic buffalo.
“She comes running up to my truck when I drive out to her pasture,” he said.
Graves, manager of the Ralphie program, has known Ralphie V nearly all of her life, and because of that relationship, he knew it was time for her retire, just a month after she turned 13.
On Tuesday, CU Boulder announced that after nearly 12 years of leading the Colorado football team onto the field, Ralphie has made her last run for the team.
“It’s the end of an era,” Graves said. “My phone’s just been blowing up with (past and current handlers) just sharing their memories of when they ran with Ralphie V and back when we trained her. Everyone looks back on all those memories fondly and it was great time and she was an awesome symbol for the university.”
Ralphie V has not run at the last two games at Folsom Field and she will not run at the Buffaloes’ home finale, Nov. 23 against Washington, although fans can still see her at Ralphie’s Corral.
Despite being in great health and actually getting faster as she ages, Ralphie V has been too wired up lately, Graves said, and that led to the decision.
“She’s always been the biggest and fastest Ralphie we’ve had, and she loves to run. She’s always loved to run,” Graves said. “What we started noticing here in the second part of the season is she wasn’t really responding to the cues that we give her at practices for when it’s time for her to run. So she was kind of taking things a little bit on her own terms. She just wanted to run so badly she wasn’t always taking the cues off of us.
“Based on how she’s kind of been acting, and her performance the past few weeks in practices, we made the decision that she’s telling us it’s time to retire.”
Ralphie V, known as “Blackout,” came to CU as a four-month-old calf in January 2007 and made her debut on April 19, 2008, at the spring football game. She led the team onto the field for a total of 76 games, including 65 times at Folsom Field, 10 Rocky Mountain Showdowns and the 2016 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Only the original Ralphie, with 78 games, ran more.
Only five times in Ralphie V’s career was she held back from running.
“Ralphie V has served the department and the university well,” athletic director Rick George said. “She has been a very special buffalo and has truly been adored by many. We hope she lives for many years to come and we look forward to finding her successor.”
Ralphie IV lived for 10 years after her retirement. Graves said Ralphie V will spend the rest of her life like she does most of the time now — enjoying her pasture and her toys (tractor tires and traffic cones) and continuing that “very special bond” with the handlers.
“She’ll just do it full time now,” Graves said. “We will continue to see Ralphie V every single day and take care of her. She’s a big girl and we’ve got to make sure she’s doing everything good out on her pastures.”
CU Boulder has already been in the process of finding a replacement. Ralphie IV and Ralphie V were donated to CU by media and sports entrepreneur Ted Turner. Graves said it’s possible the next Ralphie will come from Turner, but the program is looking at various ranches.
“I do a lot of work in the bison industry, so I know a lot of ranchers locally and nationally, too,” Graves said. “We get inquiries all the time about when we’re looking for a new Ralphie. We’ve already selected a few that we’re kind of taking a look at and seeing if it would be the right fit or not.”
Graves said CU Boulder looks for a younger buffalo and tries to find one that “wants to do the job,” as Ralphie V did. In the past, orphaned or abandoned buffalo have taken on the mascot role.
While he’s sad to see the end of the Ralphie V era, Graves said it’s exciting to train and build a bond with Ralphie VI. The hope is that the next Ralphie will be ready to go in time for the 2020 season opener.
“But, it’s entirely up to that buffalo,” he said. “We will have Ralphie VI ready when Ralphie VI is ready.”
Ralphie tradition
The Ralphie program debuted at Colorado in 1967, with five Ralphies combining to run for 352 games — 296 at home, 24 bowl games, 19 Rocky Mountain Showdowns in Denver, nine regular season road games and four Big 12 title games. Here’s a look at the five Ralphies’ stats:
Ralphie I: Ran in 78 games from 1967-78
Ralphie II: Ran in 53 games from 1978-87
Ralphie III: Ran in 73 games from 1987-97
Ralphie IV: Ran in 75 games from 1998-2008
Ralphie V: Ran in 76 games from 2008-2019
