As early as the 1930s, buffalo mascots appearances on the sideline of Marshall sporting events. However, the mascot would remain nameless and sporadic in appearances until 1954, when the editors of the Marshall University yearbook created a buffalo character roaming through the pages and named their character "Marco", derived from the term "Marshall College" as the school was known at the time. A buffalo costume was purchased for a booster club in 1965, and Marco would return to sporting events that year. In 1970, a live buffalo was introduced as Marco the mascot and was trained to perform at halftime for football games. However, after halftime during a game against Xavier in 1971, the live buffalo refused to return to its trailer and kickoff of the second half was delayed as handlers attempted to control the buffalo. The live mascot performances were discontinued afterward.