The Colorado Buffaloes football team is going into the season dealing with more replacements. After losing star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Heisman winner Travis Hunter, and a plethora of talent to the NFL, the team will have to take to Folsom Field without another star: Ralphie.
The University of Colorado announced that Ralphie VI has made her last run for the Buffalo faithful and will retire after four years of service. Ralphie VI, nicknamed Ember, will hang up her halter “due to an indifference to running, typical of many mammals, both four-legged and two-legged.”
“It was determined that it was in Ember's best interest, based on her disposition, to focus on relaxing strolls on the pasture, which is her favorite hobby,” CU said in a statement.
Ember will now transition to a companion buffalo and live with none other than Ralphie V on their ranch.
"Ember has been excellent in many aspects of her role as Ralphie, but she's happiest relaxing on the ranch, and we want to be respectful of her wishes," Taylor Stratton, Director of the Ralphie Live Mascot Program, said. "She will continue to get the same top level of love and care that all of our Ralphies receive and will enjoy socializing with Ralphie V."
The latest Ralphie was born in 2020 and was just a shade over 15 months old when she made her debut against Northern Colorado at 500 pounds on Sept. 3, 2021. The Buffs won 35-7. Her premiere was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic after Ralphie V retired at the end of the 2019 season after 12 years.
Ember’s reign, on the other hand, was 18 games over a few years, the shortest in the mascot program’s history.
According to the university, Ember was born on May 27, 2020, on a ranch just north of Chadron, Nebraska. The ranch is owned by Will Isham, a 1980 CU-Boulder graduate. She was an orphan, rejected by her mother at birth. She was adopted and raised in part by a beef cow before being donated to the mascot program in November 2020.
Ember saw the Buffs football team hit rock bottom by going 1-11 in 2022 to going 9-4 last season. But her last run at Folsom Field was a 52-0 win over Oklahoma State on Nov. 23, 2024. Her very last run was a little more like a trot during last season’s Alamo Bowl, garnering jokes online that Ralphie had “opted out” of the game. (The Buffs trotted to a 17-36 loss to BYU.) It was Ralphie’s first bowl appearance since another Alamo Bowl in 2016.
Meanwhile, the university says a succession plan has been in place for months, but there’s no exact timeline for Ralphie’s debut as she continues training. That means Ralphie VII will not make her debut in the Buffaloes' season opener against Georgia Tech this Friday. She’s expected to hit the gridiron at some point this season.
