William C. Bartol 1872

Baseball, Tennis

William Bartol, a pioneer of baseball and tennis at Bucknell and head of the mathematics department for 46 years, Bartol is generally given credit for creating the nickname “Bisons” for Bucknell athletic teams. An outstanding student and athlete as an undergraduate, he also served as head of the engineering department and as director of the observatory. Bartol played on baseball teams that lost only one game in four years while helping raise funds in support of the Athletic Association. About 1910, he suggested that the nickname “Bisons” be adopted for Bucknell teams because of the proximity of the campus to areas populated by the American bison in the late 1700s. Bartol, who died in 1940 at the age of 92, was connected with Bucknell longer than any other person in its history as a student, teacher and university historian. (Bucknell Hall of Fame Class of 1987)