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If you were to ask Grand View alumni or current students about Bud the Bird, you might get a lot of different reactions. Some might know him, some might not. Those who don’t know Bud probably have one of two reasons why. They’ve either never seen him around Grand View or they’ve never been able to find him.

Bud is a statue of an eagle that, through the years, has come in many shapes and sizes, including a more than 200-pound cast iron eagle and one carved out of wood as well as many others.

The first reports of Bud date back to 1933, where rumor has it, he was taken from a local gas station and had to be carried by at least four Grand View students in order to get him back to campus successfully. Other stories say he was taken from a nearby tractor dealership. Regardless of where Bud actually came from, one thing is for sure: No one wanted to admit they committed the original crime of stealing Bud the Bird.

Legend has it there is a dent in the stairs of Old Main, now referred to as the Humphrey Center, where the original Bud was once dropped. For the longest time, Bud sort of nested out in Old Main; that is, he did until he was taken again.

However, this time when he went missing, someone left photos behind as evidence of where he had been moved. This led to a tradition of students constantly trying to figure out the clues that led to where Bud had been taken. It was a friendly competition.

If you were the current holder of Bud and were looking to hide him, you had to follow four specific rules. Bud had to be hidden on the campus of Grand View, he had to be accessible to both male and female students, clues had to be posted on the main campus bulletin board, and lastly, Bud was to be displayed at every major event on campus.

The last of those four rules was by far the most important because as soon as a student or group of students could get their hands on him after a school event, they did.

“He’d be stuck in the middle of the floor, and there would be a mad scramble and dash to see who could grab him and disappear with him again,” 1948 GV student Norman Petersen said.

Some students also recalled a time when at a dance in the gymnasium, they noticed Bud looking over everyone on top of the basketball hoop. During the dance, the lights suddenly went out. When they came back on, Bud had vanished.

Some of the hiding places over the years have included Luther Memorial Church, the coal room in the basement of Old Main and even the bathroom closet of the president’s room. If you could find Bud, he was yours to try and hide. That is, if he was in the hands of someone who wanted to keep the tradition going.

There has actually been more than one Bud the Bird through the years. The original iron one was taken to a local scrap iron and metal recycling center by GV president Alfred C. Nielsen, the same man who had his bathroom closet invaded.

In all, an estimated 10 eagle statues have overlooked the campus. Some of them have been made of glass, others out of wood, some even concrete. When the original Bud had his body donated for metal recycling, students decided to have a funeral for him. This showed that the tradition was important to the students.

For quite some time, it was normal to have a burial process with a funeral procession led by Grand View students at the first dance of every school year. Students would dress in all black, light torches and carry Bud in a small wooden casket along Grandview Avenue and East Ninth Street, where they sang and sobbed the entire way.

“We would all sing together, Bud is dead, poor Bud is dead, oh how we mourn his last remains,” former Grand View student Elaine Bredesky said.

Bredesky was one of the many students in 1952 who marched down to Union Park where students paid their final respects to the current Bud. After a few words from the designated student preacher, Lavern Larkowski, students threw Bud into the river and marched back to campus, where they would have to await the appearance of a new Bud.

Since the days of having funerals for Bud, multiple generations of students have come and gone through this school just like Bud. Although the students continue to be seen all around the campus of Grand View, in recent years, Bud hasn’t.

Is it because he’s hidden and waiting to be found by the next Grand View student to carry on the tradition? Or is Bud waiting for the next student to take the lead role of hiding him and posting clues as to where he is hidden?

Grand View Vice President For Student Affairs, Jason Bauer, said Bud is currently waiting to be hidden. The latest version of Bud is roughly 30 pounds, painted white and made of aluminum. Bauer said he hopes to see the excitement that was once around Bud on campus again. However, this time there will be a new twist for posting clues.

“We think it would be great and only make sense that students now post their clues via social media after they hide him,” Bauer said.

Also, instead of only one campus bulletin board like they used to use in the past, he plans to use multiple boards.

Now, it’s all up to the next Grand View student to make the first hide and become a part of Grand View history.

So whether it’s 1933 or 2016, the question always has been and still remains, “Where is Bud?”

For right now, he resides in the Student Life office.