Brutus

In_____ Brutus Buckeye hit the scene when student Ray Bourhis, along with other members of the student organization Ohio Staters Inc., convinced the OSU athletic council of the idea of a Buckeye as Ohio State’s mascot. At the time, other schools used animals for their mascots and actually had the animals present at the games. Bourhis thought the only animal fitting for Ohio was the buck deer, but bringing an actual buck to games would have been virtually impossible. He therefore chose a buckeye to serve as the Ohio State mascot. He began his career as a large fiber glass shell which weighed forty pounds. Since then, Brutus has gone through several updates, and today is a much more lightweight and active part of Ohio State sporting and spirit events.
Alright, here are two questions.
-In what year did Brutus "hit the scene?"
-And, how did he get his name?