After a hard-fought 6-2 football game victory on the road against Illinois in 1909, Commandant Philip W. Corbusier, head of the school’s military department at that time, told a group of students that he thought the team “fought like wildcats.” As the name became more popular with students and sportswriters, the university officially adopted the nickname. The UK Wildcats design we printed on this comfortable t-shirt came from a vintage decal estimated to be from the 1960s.