#SaveRustlerSam

“Watery fate may lan in store for mascot” Orange County Register, 2006
"Rustler Sam does boast a prestigious past: He was designed in 1968 by the cartoonist o the popular comic strip Tumbleweeds, Tom. K. Ryan, during the bygone days of the Western craze. Students from the college wrote Ryan asking if they could use one of his characters, Sagebrush Sam, as their mascot. Instead, Ryan drew them an entirely new character, asking for a school sweatshirt and pennant as payment. In the mid-ʻ90s Rustler Sam suffered his first setback when a suddenly health-conscious student body pushed a redesign that stripped him of his trademark cigarette. While they where at it, they made the cattle thief look a bit more reputable, by eliminating the stubble that adorned his face. The school likes the idea of marketing itself as a beach school, even though the ocean is miles away. Though students cannot view the waves from the school, they can certainly view them on the schoolʻs Web site. Its home page features numerous beach and ocean shots, including a breaking wave accompanied by the caption “Discover oceans of opportunity!” One student, Opal McClane, scored the idea that the school needed an ocean mascot. “I donʻt see why it has to be an ocean name; we canʻt even see the water from here!” When told of the idea of a shark representing the school as the “wave rustler” a group of students hanging out by a coffee cart groaned. “Man, thatʻs bad!” [Nick] Nguyen said.

"Rustler Sam Turns 40" Golden West College Newsroom, 2009
"Rustler Sam was created in an era when TV westerns were all the rage and movie cowboys had yet to be replaced by firefighters as the rescue heroes of choice. Students who admired the nationally syndicated Tumbleweeds comic strip character Tumbleweed wrote to its creator, Tom K. Ryan, in Muncie, Ind., in 1968 to ask if they could use it as their mascot. Ryan wrote back to say that he didn’t think Sagebrush Sam would work, but he drew them their very own cowpoke instead. As payment, Ryan asked for an “extra large sweatshirt with emblem imprint when available,” a school pennant and pictures of the college. Rustler Sam was adopted by the campus as the official mascot in 1969. The original Rustler Sam had a beard and a cigarette drooping from his lips. In the 1990s, students concerned about the dangers of smoking sparked a redesign that gave Sam a shave and removed his smoke. He still holds a branding iron, which real rustlers used to change the brands on cattle they had stolen, and a holster on one hip. Sam’s trusty horse Bob was created by GWC Graphic Designer Dave Dluzak in 2004."