Most homecoming queens wear tiaras and evening gowns. Maudine Ormsby wore spots and weighed 1,200 pounds. In 1926, this Holstein cow actually became Ohio State University’s homecoming queen after one of the wildest election scandals in college history. And yes, she rode in the parade.
- A world-record Holstein named Maudine Ormsby was crowned after massive voting fraud made the human winner step down
- She had set a milk production record of 743.5 pounds in seven days, making her famous before the prank
- The cow actually participated in the homecoming parade but couldn’t attend the dance
The Cow Behind the Crown
Maudine wasn’t some random farm animal. She was basically the Beyoncé of dairy cows. Around 1921, this black-and-white Holstein shattered records by producing 743.5 pounds of milk and 28.7 pounds of butterfat in just one week. That made her the talk of agricultural circles and the pride of Ohio State’s College of Agriculture.
Students in the ag program absolutely adored her. When homecoming season rolled around, they got this crazy idea – why not nominate their star cow for queen? School officials shot that down pretty quick. You had to be in the student directory, and last time anyone checked, cows didn’t register for classes.
So the disappointed ag students put up Margery Rutledge instead. But they weren’t done yet.
Election Day Goes Completely Off the Rails
Here’s where things get bonkers. The 1926 homecoming election was supposed to be simple. About 10,000 students were enrolled, so officials printed 3,000 ballots. Should’ve been plenty, right?
Wrong. When vote counting started, they found over 12,000 ballots in the boxes.
Students were stuffing ballot boxes like it was going out of style. People voted multiple times. Ballot boxes vanished and reappeared. Some jokers even cast votes for alumni who’d been dead for years. It was complete chaos.
Rosalind Morrison came out the official winner with those fishy 12,000+ votes. But everyone knew something stank worse than a barn in summer. Morrison herself figured out the math didn’t work – you can’t get 12,000 votes from 10,000 people without some serious shenanigans.
Being a decent person, Morrison stepped down. “Thanks, but no thanks,” she basically said. “I didn’t win fair and square.”
And the Winner Is… Moo?
That left runner-up Maudine Ormsby to take the crown. Those crafty ag students had managed to get their beloved cow onto the ballot as a write-in candidate, and somehow she’d collected enough legitimate votes to place second.
Now picture this scene: university officials standing around, looking at the results, probably wondering if they’d lost their minds. Do we really crown a cow as homecoming queen?
You bet they did.
Maudine got the full royal treatment. They put a crown on her head (somehow) and gave her a spot in the homecoming parade. Pictures from the day show her riding on a decorated float, looking as dignified as any queen ever has. The crowd went absolutely wild.
The only thing she missed was the dance. Turns out the Crystal Slipper ballroom across from French Field House wasn’t built for half-ton guests. The dance committee had to make do with two guys in a cow costume. Not quite the same thing.
Fame Hits Like Lightning
Word spread faster than gossip in a small town. Newspapers across the country picked up the story. The Baltimore Sun ran “Cow Can’t Attend University Ball.” Papers from California to New York couldn’t get enough of this ridiculous tale.
Rosalind Morrison took it like a champ. For the rest of her life, she’d joke that her tombstone should read “But for Maudine, here lies a queen.” That’s how you handle losing to a cow with class.
The whole thing became such beloved Ohio State lore that nearly 100 years later, there’s still a “Maudine Cow Room” in the student union. Students today know her story as well as any campus legend.
When the Party Ended
Maudine’s story has a sad twist. At just seven years old, she got sick with brucellosis – a nasty, contagious disease. Vets had to put her down, way earlier than most cows would die naturally.
Students and faculty were heartbroken. Their unlikely queen was gone too soon. But her legacy was already cemented in university history.
Why This Story Still Matters
College pranks today can get mean or destructive. Maudine’s election was different. Nobody got hurt. Nobody got embarrassed (well, except maybe the election officials). It was pure, innocent fun that brought the whole school together.
It happened during a time when Ohio State had started finding its identity as a major university. The school was growing from its agricultural roots into something bigger, but hadn’t forgotten where it came from. Maudine represented that connection to farming and the land.
Plus, she was actually qualified in her own way. That milk production record was serious business. In the 1920s, when feeding the country depended on productive farms, Maudine was doing work that really mattered. She just happened to be ridiculously good at it.
The Perfect Prank
What made this work was timing and spirit. The students didn’t set out to mock anyone or cause trouble. They genuinely loved their record-breaking cow and thought she deserved recognition. When election fraud handed them an opening, they seized it.
The university could’ve shut it down. Instead, they played along. That shows real character – knowing when rules matter and when it’s okay to just have fun with an impossible situation.
And Maudine? She handled her duties with the grace you’d expect from royalty. No scandals. No drama. Just a cow being the best homecoming queen she could be.
Still Making People Smile
Walk around Ohio State’s campus today and ask students about Maudine. Most know the story and love telling it. There’s something about a cow becoming homecoming queen that just makes people happy.
Maybe it’s because she represents a time when colleges felt smaller and more connected. Maybe it’s because the whole thing is so wonderfully absurd. Or maybe it’s because Maudine proved that sometimes the best candidate is the one nobody expects.
Whatever the reason, her story survives while plenty of “normal” homecoming queens are forgotten. Not bad for a cow who never even graduated.
That’s the thing about great stories – they stick around because they capture something true about being human. We love underdogs. We love when things don’t go according to plan. And sometimes, we just love a good laugh.
Maudine gave all of that to Ohio State and then some. Nearly a century later, she’s still the most famous homecoming queen they ever had. Try explaining that to your average beauty pageant contestant.
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