Colonel Reb was the official mascot of Ole Miss Rebels, the collegiate athletic teams of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss") in Oxford, Mississippi. Designed in 1936, the Colonel served as the teams' official sideline mascot from 1979 until 2003. As was the trend among many American colleges and universities during the 1970s, the university adopted a costumed mascot, based on its popular "Colonel Rebel" design. Thus, in 1979, Colonel Reb advanced from his 40-year history on paper to a living caricature on the field. The university replaced him in 2010 with a new on-field mascot, the Black Bear. The team's current mascot is Tony the Landshark, which replaced the Rebel Black Bear in 2018, which replaced Colonel Reb in 2011. The term “Landshark” originated in 2008 from a senior linebacker Tony Fein and was adopted by the Ole Miss football team's defensive unit.