| While the teddy bear has been cherished by generations of children since the early 20th century, its designation as Mississippi's state toy has more to do with the stuffed animal's origins than any particularly special affection lingering in the hearts of Magnolia State residents. In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt went on a bear hunting trip near Onward, Mississippi, but had very little luck bagging a big game trophy. Nevertheless, the Rough Rider wasn't one to take the easy way out, and his refusal to shoot a captured black bear became national news by way of a Clifford Berryman cartoon in The Washington Post. From there, a Brooklyn candy shop owner began mass marketing "Teddy's Bear." Stuffed bears designed by the German doll company Steiff also helped make the plush toy a hot item in the United States. Fast-forward a century later, when longtime Mississippi teacher and librarian Sarah Doxey-Tate set about drumming up formal recognition of the teddy bear as the state toy to celebrate the centennial of President Roosevelt's hunting trip and his conservationist principles. The cause was taken up by legions of letter-writing schoolchildren and Representative Steve Holland, who introduced a bill in January 2002 in the Mississippi Legislature to honor the teddy. The bill passed the House in unanimous fashion, and while two state senators were grumpy enough to give a thumbs-down, there was no slowing the momentum that propelled the snuggly stuffed bear to the status of official state toy that March. | 
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