Q: Dear 100 Hour Board,
Recently, I've returned from Las Vegas, NV to the shadow of the everlasting hills and the ancestral homestead. My family and I are currently living in my parents' home while they serve a mission.
While going through some of my old stuff this week, I found an item of BYU memorabilia that intrigued me. The item in question is a Cougar Club medallion or key chain. It is roughly the size of a one dollar coin, and bronze in color. There is an image of a cougar on one side (an old "linear" design of the cougar), and on the other, a membership number and a "return postage guarantee". I have sent a query to my folks, but would like to see what you all dredge up too.
I know that my parents were members of the Cougar Club for a while, and this was likely some swag that they didn't mind giving me after they were done with it. The membership number and postage guarantee got me wondering, "am I holding a secret token that will allow me access to a vault full of BYU mint brownies?". Are there other medallions like this? Or, is this just a keychain with return postage on it in case Cougar Club members lost their keys?
Any info you find would be most appreciated!
-Folsom8k
A:
Dear reader,
My wife and I did a fair bit of searching. In the end, the only promising lead was with the library's Special Collections, which we visited today. We were able to find two documents, one addressed to "former athletes" and the other to "season ticket holders," both dated November 1975, which described something similar to what you talk about:
"As a member of the Cougar Club, you will receive a handsome bronze Cougar Club medallion mounted on a walnut shield—something you'll be proud to display in your office or den."
So, we can basically confirm that this does indeed appear to be an official Cougar Club item. We don't know exactly when it would have been issued, or when or why the club quit mounting them on plaques. Readers, if you have more information, pray tell!
-yayfulness
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