In early 1967 Ohio unveiled their new state mascot “Ohio Crank”.
Ohio Crank featured all the hall marks of a regular crank with an additional friendly smile and kid friendly attitude. Said by the designer, Paul Wells, to represent the tough working times of the Ohio workers of years past the Crank image was actually rejected by the local press so didn’t get much mainstream attention. In fact this also marked the first time that an Ohio newspaper had used an established profanity on it’s front page when the Ohio Green Hills Press ran with the headline “New State Mascot, What A Crock Of Sh*t”.
The weird thing about Ohio Crank is that it was never officially shelved. This means that even until today “Ohio Crank” is still the official state mascot even though all images and record of him are belived to have been destroyed.
It’s about time for an Ohio Crank revival, don’t you think?