Now, there are, of course, plenty of Bulldogs, Tigers, and Eagles out there. There are also, however, some that are a little different, maybe even unique.
We’ve all heard of some of these, right? I mean, Georgetown’s got the Hoyas, Ohio State the Buckeyes, and Tennessee the Volunteers. But what the heck do they mean? Where the heck did they come from?
In this post, I’m going to share some of my favorites, all from NCAA Division I schools.
Fighting Things
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish - originally after Irish immigrant soldiers who fought for the Union in the Civil War
- Illinois Fighting Illini - after the Indian tribe, for which Illinois is named
- North Dakota Fighting Hawks - formerly the Fighting Sioux, which was deemed politically incorrect
- Campbell Fighting Camels - from the name of the college
Mr. & Mrs. Gaylord and Gladys Campbell
(yup, Gaylord)
Straight -Up Nouns
- Elon Phoenix - rising from the ashes, after a devastating 1923 fire
- Hofstra Pride - formerly the Flying Dutchmen, changed in 2001because it was politically incorrect
- Northern Kentucky Norse - Norse = men from the north; winner of 1971 student poll
- Tulsa Golden Hurricane - originally, the Golden Tornadoes, which was already taken (by Georgia Tech, no less)
- Marshall Thundering Herd - from a popular 1923 Zane Grey novel about buffalo hunters
- Long Beach State Beach - mascot is Elbee the Shark, who just so happens to be non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them (I kid you not)
It’s supposed to be a hurricane (hint, hint),
something which has never actually hit Tulsa
Straight Colors
- Harvard Crimson - from the color of the jerseys; beat out magenta in an 1875 student poll
- Alabama Crimson Tide - from the color of the jerseys; formerly the Thin Red Line, a reference to Alabama’s Civil War troops
- Syracuse Orange - from the color of the jerseys; associated with the Dutch, who originally settled the area
- Dartmouth Big Green - from the color of the jerseys; formerly the politically incorrect Indians
- Cornell Big Red - from the color of the jerseys
- Stanford Cardinal - from the color of the jerseys; formerly the Indians
- North Texas Mean Green - after a nickname for the defense & the color of the jerseys
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Otto the Orange
Colorful Adjectives
- Texas Tech Red Raiders - from the color of the jerseys; formerly the Matadors
- St John Red Storm - from the color of the jerseys; originally, the politically incorrect Redmen
- St Francis Red Flash - from the color of the jerseys; also after a particularly quick offensive backfield from the 1920s
- Duke Blue Devils - from the color of the jerseys; also after a crack French military unit in WWI
- Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders - from the color of the jerseys; also after the Colgate Red Raiders
- Delaware Blue Hens - after the blue hens that Delaware troops in the Revolutionary War brought to cockfights
- Presbyterian Blue Hose - a variation of the Blue Stockings, from the uniform
- Tulane Green Wave - from the color of the jerseys, as well as a fight song published in the school newspaper in 1920
- Canisius Golden Griffins - a winged lion; also after French explorer Lasalle’s ship, the Griffin, built in Buffalo, the site of Canisius (perhaps the most obscure reference on here)
- Kent State Golden Flashes - after a 1927 contestant, with the winner picked by the school president; formerly the Silver Foxes, after a fox farm adjacent to campus
- Minnesota Golden Gophers - from the color of the pants; Minnesotans have been known as “gophers” since the mid 1800s
- Niagara Purple Eagles - from the color of the jerseys; formerly just the boring Eagles
- Evansville Purple Aces - from the color of the jerseys; formerly just the Aces
Scotty the Scotsman, a Medieval Scottish warrior (and Presbyterian’s mascot)
Uninspiring People
- Tennessee Volunteers - from the number of volunteers who signed up to fight the War of 1812
- Navy Midshipmen - a 17th century term for apprentice seamen, who berthed “amidship”
- Purdue Boilermakers - from a typical occupation for the engineering-heavy school back in the 1800s when it was coined
- UTEP Miners - from the school’s original name, the State School of Mines and Metallurgy
- Nebraska Cornhuskers - from one of the state’s main products; used derisively by Iowa after Nebraska scored an upset win against them
- Stetson Hatters - from the Stetson hat; after John B Stetson, who started the company that made them & also founded the school
- Loyola Chicago Ramblers - from the 1920s football team’s barnstorming reputation
- Idaho Vandals - from a sports writer who compared them to the barbarians who sacked Rome in the 5th Century
- Penn Quakers - because so many Quakers settled in Pennsylvania, which is known itself as the Quaker State
His nickname is the incredibly dull John B
What the Heck Is It?
- Texas A&M / New Mexico State / NC A&T / UC Davis / Utah State Aggies - from the “Agricultural” in or previously in these colleges’ names
- Utah Utes - an Indian tribe, the source of the state’s name
- Ohio State Buckeyes - from the tree, common in the state; the dried seeds look like the eye of a deer
- Georgetown Hoyas - originally the Stonewalls; came from a Latin/Greek cheer, “Hoya saxa!” – basically “What rocks [these men are]”
- Virginia Tech Hokies - nonsense words from a school cheer
- Hawaii Rainbow Warriors - from the many rainbows that appear in Hawaii, as well as the warriors popular in Hawaiian history; originally the Deans
- St Bonaventure Bonnies - from the school name; originally the Brown Indians, from the color of their jerseys
- Chattanooga Mocs - originally the Moccasins, after Moccasin Bend, where Chattanooga is located; also cited as referring to the water moccasin, the snake, and the shoe, with its Native American connotations
- Vermont Catamounts - another term for cougar; the winner of a 1926 student poll
- Univ. of Kansas City Roos - following the adoption of two baby kangaroos by the Kansas City Zoo
- VMI Keydets - a play on “cadets,” what the students at the military college are called; oddly, the mascot is a kangaroo
- Akron Zips - from a 1927 student poll, perhaps referencing a local company’s product; the mascot, Zippy, is also a kangaroo
- Wichita State Shockers - someone who harvests wheat – i.e., into shocks, or stacks
- Coastal Carolina Chanticleers - a “proud and fierce” rooster, from Chauncer’s Canterbury Tales
- Grand Canyon Lopes - short for antelopes, common in the area
- St Louis Billikens - a mythical creature who brings good luck, sort of the opposite of a gremlin
- Manhattan Jaspers - after the school’s first athletic director, Brother Jasper
Looking more like Frankenstein, “Wu” is supposed
to be a "big, bad muscle-bound bundle of wheat”
Uninspiring Pooches
- Albany Great Danes - originally the Pedagogues; student Kathy Earle won $25 in a 1967 contestant to come up with a new name
- Boston Univ / Wofford Terriers - from the scrappy, feisty dog, originally bred to fight animals in their burrows
- UMBC Retrievers - after Chesapeake Bay retrievers; UMBC stands for University of Maryland Baltimore Campus, with Baltimore being located on the Chesapeake Bay; winner of a 1966 contest
- Southern Illinois Salukis - after the “royal dog of Egypt,” with Southern Illinois long being nicknamed Little Egypt, for its rich soil between two rivers, the Mississippi and Ohio
Nightmare fuel, pure nightmare fuel
Uninspiring Animals
- Rice / Temple / Florida Atlantic Owls - from their association with learning, particularly as the symbol of Athena, the Greek goddess of knowledge
- Oregon Ducks - because of the state’s wet weather
- Oregon State Beavers - because of the importance of beaver pelts in the state’s early history
- TCU Horned Frogs - origin unknown; formerly the Preacher Boys
- Richmond Spiders - likely from the Cleveland Spiders, now the Cleveland Guardians, a very successful baseball team at the time
- St Peters Peacocks - resurrected itself, as did the peacock in mythology, after being closed during WWI
- Youngstown State Penguins - from the cold weather there
- UC Irvine Anteaters - from a joke originally championed by the water polo team
His name is Zot, he was inspired by
Johnny Hart’s comic strip B.C. & he's my fave
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