The Pets of the Fun Bunch: Furry, Feathered, and Totally Free-Spirited

At Clemson in the early 1980s, campus life wasn’t just about tailgates, textbooks, and toga parties — it was also about the unofficial mascots who made the ride even wilder. The pets of the Fun Bunch weren’t just sidekicks; they were legends in their own right. Whether lounging on frat house porches, riding shotgun on road trips, or holding court at house parties, these animals soaked up the college experience like pros.

🐶 Rufus, Roxanne, Cyrus, Clem, Otis, Isaac, Sophie, CR, Snapper, and Shep – each a four-legged fixture at game days and after-hours alike – earned their place in the Fun Bunch Hall of Fame. There was a parakeet (name long forgotten but tales never fade) who somehow made it all the way to Key West on spring break, and a star-crossed pair of lovebirds who fluttered off to the Virgin Islands with their owners, never to return. Poontang, the allegedly “borrowed” goat, became both a myth and a mascot. And then there was the hypnotic glow of the fish tank at Hambone and Moses’s late-night pad — a silent witness to more stories than anyone can remember (or should repeat).

It was never clear whether we had pets or they had us. What was clear: they loved college life just as much as we did.