How she became Brutus Buckeye’s unofficial historian
Student Life’s Tracy Stuck has interviewed over 50 Bruti—more than half of all those who’ve worn the giant head.
Over three decades at Ohio State, Tracy Stuck has held many titles. Her most unusual one, however, came in September 2021 courtesy of an ESPN interview. For a whimsical story comparing Brutus Buckeye with the Oregon Duck, a chyron identified the Student Life leader as a “Brutus historian.”
Afterward, Stuck laughed about the title with Dave Isaacs ’15 MA, Student Life’s communications and media relations manager. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Dave. Maybe I am?’”
Though you won’t find “Brutus historian” on her LinkedIn page, Stuck has developed a well-earned reputation as the university’s mascot authority. In fact, Ray Sharp ’13, the Brutus coach since he graduated, recommended Stuck to ESPN. “I would be shocked if there’s anybody who knows more about Brutus than Tracy,” Sharp says.
As a Student Life leader, Stuck has gotten to see up close Brutus in action at many campus events. “I started to realize, really early on, that if Brutus showed up, the energy of a meeting changed and that he was this magical creature.” She also got to know personally many of the students who’ve worn the Brutus head and became fascinated by their stories of hard work, sacrifice and good humor.
Stuck helped plan Brutus’ 50th birthday celebration in 2015, and as part of that project, she and her team conducted a written survey of former mascots, asking them about their experiences as Brutus. This oral history focused more on the early years of Brutus and provided information for the birthday program. It also sparked a desire in Stuck to learn even more.
For Brutus’ 60th birthday, Stuck decided to take on an even bigger oral history project, one that dug deeper into more recent events and the mascot program’s public service side. She interviewed over 50 Bruti—more than half of all those who’ve worn the giant head—and the conversations served as the basis for this magazine story. Like the first oral history project, the interview transcripts will be given to University Archives for preservation.
Next up for Stuck is a children’s book about Brutus, which she’s working on with several collaborators. All proceeds from the book will support Brutus student scholarships. Stuck wants Brutus to become the first fully funded college mascot program in the country. “If there is anyone I can talk to to tell this story about how hard these students work, I would be there in two seconds,” Stuck says.
