Point of Return

Stephanie Pointer has been confined to the dusty shelves of UWSP’s archives since 2013. That was until this year’s homecoming, when she made her first public appearance in over a decade.

The retired UWSP mascot made her appearance Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. in the DUC for UWSP’s ‘Pointer Pairs’ event. The costume worn was the second iteration of Stephanie’s costume and came straight from UWSP’s archival center. 

The event featured both Stephanie and Stevie Pointer and allowed UWSP alumni to “renew their commitment to UWSP and each other,” according to the Pointer Pairs web page. 

Stephanie made the return because “Stevie and Stephanie kind of are the ultimate pointer pair,” according to Laura Rottier, Director of Alumni Affairs. 

While many current students are familiar with Stevie Pointer, far less know about Stephanie Pointer. Afterall, Stephanie was shelved way back in 2013. But how did she come to be?

Stephanie’s story starts with Stevie’s. The first image resembling Stevie Pointer was a drawing of a Pointer dog used on the cover of the December 1916 student newspaper. 

The term pointer gained traction among student publications by 1927, but a drawing labeled ‘Stevie the Pointer’ did not appear until 1953 when Judy Clayton, a UWSP student, created an anthropomorphized version of him.

Much like Stevie, Stephanie’s roots can be found in student drawings. While she didn’t have a name yet, a female pointer character is drawn dancing with Stevie the Pointer in a 1953 issue of UWSP’s Iris yearbook. 

Decades passed before there was an official Stephanie Pointer costume.

Stephanie became a more refined idea in 1976 when Dennis Jensen, a UWSP student at the time, made a comic book depicting several dog characters. One of those characters was named “Stephanie Pointerski” and is the first iteration of the character having a name. The name was refined to Stephanie Pointer in the 1977 Spring Pointer Alumnus, still drawn by Jensen. 

Finally, Stephanie got an official costume on September 29, 1982, making her first appearance at that year’s homecoming. 

She helped cheer UWSP athletics alongside Stevie for many years, even outlasting UWSP’s other retired mascot ‘Mad Dog’ until her eventual retirement in 2013. 

The exact reason for Stephanie’s retirement was not recorded publicly.

Despite many current students not knowing as much about Stephanie due to her absence, some were excited to see her return.

“It was really cool to see her come back. I grew up hearing about her in stories, so it was really cool to get to see her in person,” said Liam Statz, 90FM’s Sports Director and a Pointer Sports Commentator. 

Liam’s father attended UWSP before Stephanie was retired.

So far, Stephanie has only come back for the Pointer Pairs event, but there might be a path for her to appear more often.

“UWSP is gauging how students feel about Stephanie,” said Al Thompson, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, but did not provide specifics. 

Students were responsible for Stephanie’s creation, and it looks like they could be responsible for a possible full return. 

Derek Tritz

Contributor | The Pointer

[email protected]