COALMONT, Colo. — Ralphie is arguably one of the most famous mascots in all of college football.
There were only six ranching families that could claim to have donated a Ralphie to the University of Colorado Boulder, until now. Eagle’s Wing Ranch in Coalmont, Colorado, became the seventh.
Ralphie VI, nicknamed Ember, retired in August after four years of running around Folsom Field with the Ralphie Handlers. The 5-year-old didn't particularly enjoy running and instead liked leisurely strolls in a pasture, the school said.
When CU went looking for a buffalo that loves to run and might be comfortable doing it in front of 55,000 people, they called Eagle’s Wing Ranch.
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Jim Beauprez and his wife, Julie, found the perfect Ralphie VII in their 300 head of buffalo, and the rest is history.
“There are only six other ranching families that can say they donated Ralphie,” Jim Beauprez said.
“It was surreal. I didn’t realize how big a deal that mascot is,” Julie Beauprez said.
Jim Beauprez, his parents, his uncle, and his siblings all graduated from CU Boulder. They are more than proud to have donated the new Ralphie to the university.
“The Raphie program called and asked if we were interested in donating a Ralphie, and I was like, 'Where do we sign?'” Jim Beauprez told Denver7.
Jim and Julie Beauprez aren’t so sure, though, that they picked the buffalo. They are pretty sure that the buffalo picked them.
“I don’t believe in coincidences, I think it was meant to be — something about her,” Julie Beauprez said.
They noticed that she was always around them. She would walk the fence line if the Beauprezes were working.
It seems like she made sure that this was her fate.
