COLUMBUS — A century after a 1,200-pound Holstein cow was crowned Ohio State University’s homecoming queen, Queen Maudine is back in the parade.
Ohio State named a cow named Maudine the grand marshal of its 2026 homecoming parade, stepping off at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the original Maudine Ormsby’s improbable crown in October 1926. A tractor will pull this century’s Maudine in a decorated trailer along the parade route.
“They took the original Maudine in the parade then, so we’re taking her in the parade now,” said Karissa Ayers, an Ohio State student and president of the Buckeye Dairy Club.
This year’s Maudine is a 1-year-old Holstein from Ohio State’s Wooster campus. Ayers said dairy club members have been working with the heifer to get her comfortable with the trailer — she is easily bribed with grain, “which is like candy for cows.”
The original Maudine made national headlines in 1926 when she won the homecoming crown amid election fraud and disappointment from the human women on the court.
“Queen Maudine still reigns supreme in the hearts of many Ohio State students and alumni,” the university noted. Graham Cochran, associate dean for the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, said the honor puts the university’s agricultural roots “front and center.”
