Celebrating Joy & Lady — THE Baylor Bears!

Can you believe it? Baylor’s beloved campus mascots, Joy and Lady, are now teenagers!

Judge Joy Reynolds (“Joy”) was born on this date in 2001, and her sister, Judge Sue Sloan (“Lady”), was born a year and four days later (Jan. 31, 2002). The bears came to the Baylor campus from a private Oregon ranch when they were each about four months old. At that age, taking care of the bears was much like taking care of any baby — minus the milk guzzling and 30-pound weight. Their Chamber-member trainers learned what life was like as single parents for the few months the bears needed constant attention. Mornings began at 8 a.m. with the first formula feeding of the day, five hours of exploring and walking around campus, then another feeding.

With her wide ears and big brown eyes, one look was all it took for people to fall in love with Joy. The elder of the two bears, Joy has always been more cuddly than her younger sister; she used to curl up in the arms of her namesake, Joy Reynolds (the wife of former President Herbert Reynolds). Lady (named for the wife of former President Robert Sloan) is rambunctious and constantly trying to get into things. As a baby, she even tore up much of trainer Adam Ylitalo’s apartment, “but it was definitely worth it,” he said.

After Lady outgrew Ylitalo’s apartment, she had her own enclosure for a while, where she and her sister could interact through the fence until they grew to the same size. Eventually, they were moved into what is now the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat. At 270 and 280 pounds, they’re not so little anymore.

In 2014, the university celebrated the 100th anniversary of becoming the Baylor Bears. Among the 24 entries students chose between a century ago were the Bears, Buffalos, Baptists, Bulldogs, and (yikes!) Bookworms. Three years later, Baylor received its first live mascot, which made its first appearance at a football game against Texas A&M at the Cotton Palace Grounds.

It seems like just yesterday Joy and Lady came into the world, but they’re already middle-aged. Baylor plans on keeping the sisters around for the remainder of their lives — long enough for 12 more classes of students to fall in love with them.

Sic ’em, Joy and Lady!