Putnam the Pio made his debut as the official Marietta College mascot on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, and cheered the Pioneer men’s basketball team on to a 94-87 victory over visiting John Carroll University. Putnam is named after Gen. Rufus Putnam, a Revolutionary War soldier and the founder of Marietta, the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory. Following the Revolutionary War, Rufus Putnam formed and was named the superintendent of the Ohio Company of Associates. The Ohio Company contracted with the federal government to survey and allocate more than a million and a half acres in what is now southeast Ohio and led to the founding of Marietta.??
Potential names for the new mascot were solicited from the Marietta College community and six were chosen as finalists. Marietta College students, alumni, staff and faculty cast more than 2,800 votes and Putnam was chosen in a very tight race.
