In 1989, newly hired football coach Bill Snyder wanted a new logo to change the image of a program known at the time as a chronic loser.

Tom Bookwalter, a Kansas native and K-State art professor, created a stylized wildcat's head known as the "Powercat," that was added to the football team's helmets.

By the mid-1990s, due to the football team's rapid rise, the Powercat had replaced the cartoon-style Willie as K-State's primary logo.

The student inside the mascot costume (whose identity is kept secret) changes every few years, and the persona of Willie has remained the same throughout.

[5] Willie has been known to crowd surf and he also does one push-up for each point on the board for K-State when the Wildcats score a touchdown or make a field goal at football games.