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Your favorite sports team or alma mater’s mascot is probably some sort of big cat or bird of prey, and that’s fine. Your tattoo is right; the Tigers totally rule. However, there are quite a few more esoteric mascot choices out there, like a color of a certain disposition or a set of punctuation marks, all of which can still cause fans to well up with pride. Here are the origins of some of our favorites from this arcane set:
1. University of North Carolina Tar Heels’ Rameses the Ram
A quick trip to Chapel Hill will reveal lots of great bars and live music venues but surprisingly few wild rams walking Franklin Street. So why is the school’s mascot a ram? In 1924 cheerleader Vic Huggins decided the school needed a symbol. The stellar football team of 1922 had been led by the punishing running play of Jack “The Battering Ram” Merritt, so Huggins decided that a live ram would be the perfect mascot. Huggins had Rameses shipped in from Texas for $25, and when the Tar Heels beat heavily favored VMI in Rameses’ first appearance, the ram became something of an institution. Perhaps the least believable part of this entire story is that it involves Carolina winning a major football game, but records show it’s entirely true. [Image courtesy of UNC.edu.]
2. Philadelphia Phillies’ Phillie Phanatic
In the late 1970s the Phillies’ mascots were two 18th-century siblings named Philadelphia Phil and Philadelphia Phyllis, but the duo did little to attract families wary of Veterans’ Stadium rough-and-tumble image. In an effort to find a more family-friendly mascot, team officials commissioned design firm Harrison/Erickson, who also designed Muppets and the Montreal Expos’ beloved Youppi!, to craft a gentler symbol for the team. Thus, in 1978 six feet of green fur, curled tongue, and gyrating belly were born to signify the rabid passion of Philly’s fans without drawing attention to the more beer-soaked aspects of the Vet.
The Phanatic has since become one of baseball’s most popular mascots, but since this is a Philly sports story it can’t have a totally happy ending. Former team vice president and current part owner Bill Giles wrote in his autobiography that he made a key blunder when commissioning the design. Given the option of buying the Phanatic costume alone for $3900 or the costume and its copyright for $5200, Giles didn’t shell out the extra $1300. This decision turned out to be an expensive mistake: five years later Giles and a group of investors bought the team and eventually purchased the copyright from Harrison/Erickson for $250,000. [Image courtesy of silverscreentest.com.]
3. Oakland A’s Stomper the Elephant
Benjamin Shibe, who is credited with inventing the machinery to mass-produce standardized baseballs, owned the then-Philadelphia Athletics from their inception in 1901. In the early days of the franchise, New York Giants manager John “Muggsy” McGraw derisively said that Shibe had a white elephant on his hands since the Athletics couldn’t compete with the existing Phillies of the National League.
Instead of shying away from the taunt, legendary Athletics manager Connie Mack embraced the white elephant nickname, even going so far as to give his old friend McGraw a stuffed elephant when the Athletics met McGraw’s Giants in the 1905 World Series. Although eccentric owner Charlie Finley replaced the elephant with a live Missouri mule named after himself in 1963, the elephant mascot was restored in 1988, and Stomper debuted in 1997. With his high OBP and the great defensive range factor he gets from his trunk, Stomper is surely a favorite of current A’s general manager Billy Beane. [Image courtesy of PhiladelphiaAthletics.org.]
4. University of North Texas Mean Green
It takes a special player to get his number retired by his alma mater, but only a real legend’s nickname becomes his school’s mascot. The vicious play of football star “Mean” Joe Greene, perhaps best known to many casual fans for winning Super Bowls and bumming a Coke off a kid in a commercial, may have given rise to the school’s current moniker after years of playing with a less-than-inspired green Eagles mascot. According to one story touted by the university, Sidney Sue Graham, the wife of sports information director Fred Graham, called Greene “mean” following a brutal tackle during his late-1960’s career at the school. She then began calling the entire smothering defensive unit the “Mean Green,” and although Graham initially dismissed his wife’s newly coined phrase, he eventually used it in a press release that caught on with reporters. [Image courtesy of UNT.edu.]
5. New College of Florida [ ]
That’s not a typo. The New College of Florida’s unofficial student mascot is actually the null set. After hearing rumors of this unique mascot but not being able to find any hard evidence on it, I placed a call to the school’s Office of Public Affairs, where the very friendly staffer informed me that while the 746-undergraduate college founded in 1960 doesn’t officially have a mascot, it’s fair to say that students adopted the null set early in the school’s history as a sly wink to its lack of athletic teams. Although the school now fields competitive teams in sailing, ultimate Frisbee, and soccer, the [ ] still seems almost as clever; one can’t afford to be all that picky when searching for a mascot based on set theory.
6. Georgia Tech’s Ramblin’ Wreck
College sports fans know that Georgia Tech’s mascot is the Yellow Jacket, a tradition that dates back to at least 1905. However, anyone who’s been to a home football game at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field in Atlanta has also seen the official mascot of the student body, a 1930 Ford Model A Sports Coupe known as the Ramblin’ Wreck. The phrase “ramblin’ wreck” dates back to at least the 1890’s as part of the school’s fight song and may have stemmed from a description of the entire student body traveling from Athens to Atlanta to watch a football game against the University of Georgia.
According to the school paper The Technique, the application of the term “ramblin’ wreck” to cars first occurred in the early 20th century to describe makeshift vehicles built by Georgia Tech engineers during projects in the South American jungle. By 1927 the 1914 Ford of Dean of Men Floyd Field had taken on iconic status as a Ramblin’ Wreck.
The current Wreck was purchased in 1961 by Dean of Students Jim Dull, who found the Wreck parked near his apartment building. This new Ramblin’ Wreck led the Yellowjackets onto the field for their home game against Rice on September 30, 1961 and has done so for every home game since. [Image courtesy of GaTech.edu.]
7. Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons’ Guy Made of Pistons
Technically, this one is the logo, not the mascot, of the Detroit Pistons forerunner that played in Fort Wayne, Indiana from 1941 to 1957, and I can’t find an official name for him. But really, your life is better for having gazed upon him. The team was originally owned by industrialist Fred Zollner, who also owned a large foundry that made automotive pistons, hence the team name. To that extent, the Pistons nickname and the logo make sense. Upon closer scrutiny, though, the logo raises a host of questions: what sort of terrible foundry accident created this piston monster? Why did it spare only his hands and feet? Could he beat the Tin Man in a game of one-on-one? Why is he happily dribbling that ball rather than using science to repair his missing body? We’ll never know; since 1996 the Pistons’ mascot has been Hooper, a black horse. Because, you know, pistons create horsepower. Even a guy whose entire head is a piston could probably come up with pun that’s a little less forced. [Image courtesy of Wikipedia.]
8. The University of Akron Zips’ Zippy the Kangaroo
If you saw Zippy win the 2007 Capital One National Mascot of the Year award, you probably wondered why Akron had the gloriously befuddling combination of the Zips nickname and a kangaroo mascot. Surely there was some internal logic there, right? Not at all, which makes Zippy all the more intriguing.
After a campus-wide contest to name the school’s athletic teams in 1925, freshman Margaret Hamlin won ten dollars for her suggestion of “Zippers” after a popular rubber overshoe of the same name made by local company B.F. Goodrich. The nickname remained the Zippers until 1950, when it was shortened to the Zips.
As for Zippy the kangaroo, she became the mascot in 1953 after student council advisor Dick Hansford recommended the idea. According to school’s website, Hansford proposed the idea because he enjoyed a contemporary comic strip featuring Kicky the Fighting Kangaroo. This combination of combining the name of a popular rubber shoe and a popular cartoon character deserves more exposure; we can only hope that somewhere out there a fledgling college is naming its teams the Crocs, complete with dancing Marmaduke mascot. [Image courtesy of ChippewaGolfClub.com.]
Ethan Trex grew up idolizing Vince Coleman, and he kind of still does. Ethan co-writes Straight Cash, Homey, the Internet’s undisputed top source for pictures of people in Ryan Leaf jerseys. His last contribution to mental_floss explored strange college bowl game sponsorships.
Columbia MO. Hickman High School mascot is the Kewpies (as in the baby doll?!) If ever there was a need for a mascot change….
posted by Tim Alten on 1-3-2008 at 12:49 pm
In Monroe, Wis., the high school’s sports teams are the “Cheesemakers.” Makes sense, I guess…
posted by Erin on 1-3-2008 at 1:22 pm
Favorite mascots that I’ve seen for area schools: Vikings, Scottie Dogs.
Least favorite mascot ever: Teddy Bears. (My elementary school.) Lame-o!
But not as lame as a Kewpie doll.
posted by Sarah on 1-3-2008 at 1:24 pm
Ever hear of the Delta State Fighting Okra?
posted by Amy on 1-3-2008 at 1:33 pm
Until the 1980’s, the Pekin, Illinois high school team name was the Pekin Chinks!
I think they had an equally offensive mascot but my cursory search didn’t turn up a picture. However, I did find that there was both a Chink and Chinkette mascot. Apparently they couldn’t think of anything more offensive than Chinkette for the female version.
Of course now that we know Peking as Beijing, this would make even less sense.
posted by Andy on 1-3-2008 at 1:37 pm
The University of Missouri - Kansas City mascot is also a Kangaroo, and it was originally named and designed by none other than Walt Disney, who was a student there when it was known as University of Kansas City.
I also like the Saint Louis University Biliken. What is that thing? Its like a troll and a Kewpie doll had a frankenbaby.
And of course. The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slug.
posted by caroline on 1-3-2008 at 1:53 pm
Yeah Rameses! The best mascot ever! Go UNC!
posted by Ashley on 1-3-2008 at 2:00 pm
>>>>
Erin Says:
In Monroe, Wis., the high school’s sports teams are the “Cheesemakers.” Makes sense, I guess…
posted by WizardBoy on 1-3-2008 at 2:01 pm
My alma mater…
the University of California Irvine:
Peter the Anteater
Zot! Zot! Zot!
posted by Leila on 1-3-2008 at 2:06 pm
My alma mater is the Northwestern State Univeristy of Louisiana ‘Demons’. That’s right, big purple demons. Kind of strange for a small and conservative Southern town.
If you see the movie Steel Magnolias, it’s written about Natchitoches, LA, and the team is changed to the ‘Devils’.
FORK ‘EM DEMONS! (you have to scream that while doing the devil horns with your fingers a la headbanger style)
posted by Emily on 1-3-2008 at 2:07 pm
I don’t know if I would call the University of North Texas Eagle uninspiring. Don Henley went to school there and consequently took the mascot as the name for his legendary band. But, hey, dozens of other schools have an eagle for a mascot and Mean Green sounds much cooler.
posted by Caroline on 1-3-2008 at 2:11 pm
My high school mascot was the Fisher Bunnies. No, really.
It started in the 1930’s when a winning basketball team kept the streak alive by wearing rabbit’s feet on their uniforms. The name stuck and we’ve been the Bunnies ever since. Our motto was always “I’d rather be a Bunnie than get beat by one.” Imagine being the Panthers or the Wild Cats and losing to the little ol’ Fisher Bunnies.
As an aside, note the spelling of “Bunnie” in our motto. For whatever reason we keep the plural spelling even when it’s referred to in the singular.
And our grade school mascot is The Scotties, as in the shaggy little dogs. No idea where that one comes from.
posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 1-3-2008 at 2:12 pm
Didn’t know that about Monroe. I’ve been working there for the past 6 months and I DID notice the fire department has a crest that features a hunk of cheese, a helmet and an axe (the latter two relegated to the background though).
posted by Kevin on 1-3-2008 at 2:12 pm
The University of Delaware’s mascot is YouDee, the fighting blue hen.
It strikes fear in many a heart….
posted by Laura on 1-3-2008 at 2:15 pm
OMG, SpaceMonkeyX , I’ve known about the Bunnies but never knew WHY. I just imagined the cheers (Hmm, what do bunnies do? They don’t fight, they f—)
I’m at Northwest Missouri State University, home of the Bearcats. Which are NOT modeled after the Pawalan Binturong.
posted by lleachie on 1-3-2008 at 2:20 pm
A high school a town away from mine had the best mascot ever… the Verona Hillbillies. I heard that they had a mural where a hillbilly was holding moonshine and a musket, but eventually it got changed to a fishing pole and bucket.
posted by Kelly J on 1-3-2008 at 2:21 pm
potsdam ny… STONERS, i kid you not!
posted by rrrrrr on 1-3-2008 at 2:25 pm
Citing post 5. . .
I was a proud Pekin Community High School Dragon. However, I was shocked to learn that the mascot was not changed from the Chink until about 1982 or so. Here’s the story.
Pekin, IL, as legend has it, happens to be on or near the same latitude as Beijing (Peking), China. So, when the high school was formed in 1908, the founders chose the Chink as the mascot in order to honor the Chinese. The mascot was a Chinese guy with a long braided ponytail and a conical shaped hat, I kid you not.
Now, all was fine and dandy until Pekin west to win back to back to back basketball championships from 1965-67, and that’s when all the controversy started to change the mascot. In fact, some residents of the town still don’t accept the name change. The controversy first flared in 1975 when some upset Chinese Americans wanted the mascot changed and the school board decided to keep the moniker. The name was finally changed in 1982, much to the chagrin of previous graduates. For those who didn’t accept the name change, the T-Shirt House (that mysteriously burned down last year) had a back room a la 1920’s speakeasies where if you had the right password could gain you access to hard to find and presumably illegal to sell Chink memorabilia. If the place rebuilt, I’m guessing that they still have the back room, provided very little of the Chink memorabilia was harmed. Otherwise, it may be an institution lost forever.
My best friend’s sister (who is half-Japanese) still wants a T-shirt for her Chinese American husband. . .
posted by Kmanpat on 1-3-2008 at 2:36 pm
Protection High School in Protection, KS has the nickname of the Trojans…
posted by Scott from Cincy on 1-3-2008 at 2:38 pm
When I first started attending Slippery Rock University in the early 90s, it was the Slippery Rock Rockets. But our mascot was Rocky the Rock. It was a guy in a Hoodie sweatsuit with the hood backwards, the eyes cut out and a beenie cap on. He also wore cage gear (university provided gym clothes over top). This abomination was remedied when a new mascot contest made us the Slippery Rock Pride (as in a pride of lions) and we got a lion mascot… I voted for salamanders or rhinos…
posted by Yerg on 1-3-2008 at 2:48 pm
Hey! I’m a proud Verona Hillbilly. And yes, over the years the moonshine & gun have been changed to a dog and fishing pole (have to be PC, now don’t we? sigh).
posted by Beth on 1-3-2008 at 2:54 pm
My alma mater is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) and we are the Ragin’ Cajuns. After many “spirit leaders” (picture a Cajun Chicken, everyone) in 2000 or so they settled on a Ragin’ Cajun Cayenne Pepper named…you guessed it Cayenne!
posted by Sara on 1-3-2008 at 3:14 pm
Cairo, GA- home of the Syrup Makers. Nice huh?
posted by Suzanne on 1-3-2008 at 3:14 pm
How about University of Evansville Purple Aces? The mascot is a riverboat captain with a big hat.
posted by Karen on 1-3-2008 at 3:18 pm
Nice Beth! I’m a Caldwell Chief! Apparently our tomahawk thing we did with our arms while making Indian noises at games got offensive though, so about the time you guys got a fishing pole, they threatened to make us the Colts or Cougars. Nothing ever happened though.
posted by Kelly J on 1-3-2008 at 3:20 pm
It’s an absolute travesty that the University of California Santa Cruz Banana Slug was left off of this list.
posted by Kill on 1-3-2008 at 3:30 pm
Kelly, you get a Superintendent in who has NO CLUE what the town is all about and wants to stomp out the Hillbillies. Good way to make a first impression. I had no idea so many Verona-ites loved their Hillbilly until this guy came along and wanted to change anything.
See you on the football field next Thanksgiving! ;-)
posted by Beth on 1-3-2008 at 3:30 pm
My high school (Punahou on Oahu) didn’t really have a mascot. Technically we were the “Hala Trees” (not a threatening-looking tree at all, mind you) but we were usually referred to as the “Puns”. And our alma mater is to the tune of “Oh Christmas Tree”. Yeah I get teased about that a lot. Oh and I am currently at the University of Hawaii (I know, Georgia kicked our a$$) and we used to be called the “Rainbows”. Hah.
posted by Leah on 1-3-2008 at 3:41 pm
My favorite is the Hoopeston, IL Cornjerkers. I guess if you are famous for sweet corn, what better mascot?
I also like the Alabama minor league baseball team, the Montgomery Biscuits.
posted by Troy on 1-3-2008 at 3:42 pm
Rapid City (SD) Central High School Cobblers: the original team name was Eagles or something equally mundane. In the 1920’s, Euclid Cobb was hired as athletic director and coach of all sports. He stayed 40 years and somewhere in there sportswriters began referring to the teams as Cobblers. A shoemaker was backfitted into the mascot slot to fit the name.
Following this tradition, when the new Stevens High School was opened across town, the football coach was Gary Boner and the Stevens HS teams were called the Bo…naw, just kidding — they were named the Raiders.
posted by Loomis on 1-3-2008 at 3:43 pm
There is a minor league baseball team in Delaware, the Wilmington Blue Rocks, that has three mascots. The best is Mr. Celery who only comes out when the Blue Rocks score a homerun. He’s completely random but everyone loves him.
posted by Sarah on 1-3-2008 at 3:56 pm
Yeah I know about the Fightin’ Okra!
I think Hokies is odd…
There is a town in WV named Poka, home of the Dots. no, really.
posted by christina on 1-3-2008 at 4:16 pm
I am currently enrolled at the University of Akron, home of Zippy the Kangaroo. Even though I did vote occasionally in the Capital One Bowl, I think it’s a rather dubious honor in that I think it means we just had the most bored people who had nothing better to do but vote for our mascot. My son, who is 5, loves Zippy.
posted by Ginger on 1-3-2008 at 4:44 pm
My highschool was Charles F Brush High in Lyndhurt, Ohio, named for the inventor of the arc light, also known as a street light. Our mascot was a lightbulb!!! we really had a guy that would dress up with a giant paper mache lightbulb on his head for events!
posted by gayle on 1-3-2008 at 5:08 pm
I have been living in Indiana for over 20 years and still don’t know what a Hoosier is! My high school mascot was a Dudley Do right character, the Northwest Mounties!
posted by Mongo on 1-3-2008 at 5:16 pm
Here in Lewisville, Texas, we have the Fighting Farmers. No story, I am transplanted here…
posted by Jeff on 1-3-2008 at 5:53 pm
How about the Batavia, New York Muckdogs minor league baseball team! My son was on a T-ball team and they used this as their team jersey……(quite fitting for a bunch of 5 year olds…)
www.muckdogs.com/
posted by GerryD on 1-3-2008 at 6:38 pm
One of my favorites is the Batavia, New York Muckdogs minor league baseball team. My son played on a T-ball team that used the Muckdog mascot - and still to this day (4 years later) calls himself a “Muckdog”
www.muckdogs.com/
posted by GerryD on 1-3-2008 at 6:46 pm
With the Verona (Wisconsin) reference, I’m reminded of the Rhinelander HODAGS. ‘course, I’m originally from Sheboygan, so I wasn’t one. I think it’s a mythical creature that looks like a dragon.
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers have a cool mascot too. Their logo is a hand waving a spirit towel, but the mascot is just a large red blob with a big mouth (the spirit of the hills, I guess).
posted by TomH on 1-3-2008 at 11:24 pm
The high school in Freeport, Illinois was originally a pretzel factory. Therefore the mascot is (drum roll) A PRETZEL! It’s funny when you think about it, even though we’re used to it. Still glad I was a knight.
posted by Jill on 1-4-2008 at 12:11 am
In my years represented by a mascot, I have been many things. Tonto Elementary School made me a Mustang and then I became a Don at Coronado High School. My high school used this title of Spanish nobility for our mascot, which is easy to spell for the marching band but always requires explanation when trying to trash talk. College? An antelope. Yep, as when “the deer and THE ANTELOPE play . . .” Not too intimidating, but we didn’t have a football team either, so maybe it didn’t matter that much. We had decent baseball and basketball teams, and for some reason those sports are more allowing of unique mascots. Grad school made me a Sun Devil, for which I am grateful, especially in football season. But the best? I will always be, way down deep, at some level, maybe a level too deep or recessive to register anywhere but in conversations about mascots, a Scottsdale Community College Artichoke.
posted by JarrodT on 1-4-2008 at 1:07 am
In elementary school, we were known as the Byron Flashes (as in, lightening, but you can imagine some of the other connotations). The mascot has since been changed to an eagle.
Prior to its integration with Hunt High School, Fort Valley High School’s mascot was the Green Waves. I still don’t know the backstory behind this one.
posted by Melissa on 1-4-2008 at 8:34 am
Not to be outdone,
Mary Baldwin College: Gladys, the Fighting Squirrel.
posted by Molly on 1-4-2008 at 9:00 am
Let’s not forget the Fighting Pickles of the North Carolina School of the Arts, in Winston-Salem!
posted by Julie on 1-4-2008 at 9:59 am
Scarsdale High School (in NY) has the Bandersnatch as its mascot. The Bandersnatch comes from the Lewis Carroll poem “The Jabberwocky,” where a line mentions “the fruminous Bandersnatch.” Since no one knows what a Bandersnatch looks like, the mascot looks like a fuzzy maroon dinosaur/alligator hybrid. Strange!
posted by moomeuh on 1-4-2008 at 10:38 am
On my student ID, it looks like Zippy is giving every one the middle finger. University of Akron didn’t use that picture for to long.
posted by Bob on 1-4-2008 at 11:46 am
I’ve always loved the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes. When I was at the University of Arizona (in Tucson) in the early 70’s, the students at SCC sent a message that they had no interest in athletics when, in the election to choose a mascot for the newly established school, they selected the artichoke.
At the time the administration was rather embarrassed. Now the school is proud of their off beat mascot and sell stuffed “Arties”: www.scottsdalecc.edu/pr/artie.html
posted by Tim on 1-4-2008 at 12:40 pm
I wish I could have been an Artichoke or a Pretzel, but I’m just a Beaver. Some names that sounded strange to me turned out to be appropriate, like the Honkers in Canada geese country. This one’s a stretch - Fighting Quakers in New Philadelphia, OH.
posted by Heidi on 1-4-2008 at 1:28 pm
Tigers can be cool too!
The LSU Tigers were actually named after a volunteer rifle company out of New Orleans during the Civil War. They were so fierce, in time all Louisiana soldiers in Lee’s Army became known as Tigers.
Geaux Tigers! Kick some Buckeye butt Monday!
(And speaking of mascots, what about buckeye?)
posted by Lindsey on 1-4-2008 at 1:37 pm
The minor league Albuquerque Isotopes! Formerly the Duke City Dukes. I don’t have any stories about them, other than I think the Simpsons came up with the name first.
posted by Whitney on 1-4-2008 at 2:02 pm
Hey, TomH, Western Kentucky University’s mascot is named Big Red. . .he’s the physical embodiment of the big red spirit of Western. He’s sort of an abstract idea in that regard. We’re known as the Hilltoppers because, well, the campus sits atop a hill. The founder of the University had a Greek ideal in mind. The red towel in our logo is a reference to E.A. Diddle, our legendary coach, who was famous for clutching a red towel on the sidelines. The red towel is a huge part of Western’s tradition now. Incidentally, Western was originally a teacher school and they were originally known as the Fighting Pedagogues. Pedagogue, of course, being a five dollar word for teacher.
posted by mark on 1-4-2008 at 2:35 pm
*blinks* I’m just shocked to see my alma mater mentioned anywhere let alone in a discussion of mascots.
[ ] indeed! Go not-quite-so-fighting [ ]. Though in honesty, the students also refer to the school seal (that four winds, spiraly thing) as the “mascot”. Yes, they do sometimes call it the swirly…which I’d say is nearly as cool as the null set.
posted by Vesica on 1-4-2008 at 9:15 pm
I can’t believe no one has mentioned my high school yet. I’m a proud graduate from Frankfort, IN, the home of the Hot Dogs! The mascot is a Dachshund.
posted by Lynn on 1-7-2008 at 1:59 pm
A rival middle school of mine when I was growing up in Muncie, IN was called the Franklin “Flyers”.
The logo on the side of their helmets? Snoopy as the WWI flying ace on his doghouse. We gave them so much sh*t for that. In retrospect…it was still kinda lame.
I was a Storer Spartan (logo stolen from Michigan State)
posted by Van on 1-7-2008 at 2:04 pm
In response to christina: the Hokie Bird isn’t that odd. The term Hokie comes from our fight song “Hokie, Hokie, Hokie Hi. Tech Tech VPI…” And we were known as the fighting gobblers with the picture of a turkey in the background of our stadium, which lead to the Hokie Bird of Virginia Tech fame.
posted by Sarah on 1-8-2008 at 2:18 am
I went to Maryvale High School in suburban Buffalo, NY. We are known as the “Flyers” for our proximity to Buffalo Airport. Our logo was originally Snoopy as the WWI flying ace on his doghouse, but they eventually changed it to a pegasus.
posted by Brad on 1-9-2008 at 4:42 am
“a description of the entire student body traveling from Athens to Atlanta to watch a football game against the University of Georgia.” Georgia Tech is in Atlanta and the University of Georgia is in Athens. Why would Ga. Tech student body drive from Athens to Atlanta to watch a football game? Why was the Ga. Tech student body in Athens?
posted by Debbie Anderson on 1-9-2008 at 6:18 am
Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA.
- the Geoducks. It’s a type of mollusk, it’s pronounced “gooey ducks”, and you have to see pictures to know why it’s so counter-cool. Check their website or just google geoduck.
posted by Brian on 1-9-2008 at 2:25 pm
I am sure some of you know about it, due to the commercials they used to do on ESPN. Watersmeet, MI Nimrods.. what more can I say.
I think that the term is actually something that refers to hunting, or hunters. I am not sure tough as it may be a bible thing.
posted by Rob Van on 1-10-2008 at 7:37 am
“Perhaps the least believable part of this entire story is that it involves Carolina winning a major football game, but records show it’s entirely true.”
Hey now!!!! we have won a few big games!!!, not as many as we’d like but a few!!! and we are on the way up !!!! lol
GO HEELS!!!
posted by mugley on 1-10-2008 at 10:12 am
Way up north in Minnesota, you have the Two Harbors High School “Agates”. An agate is a small shiney stone that frequents the north shores of Lake Superior, can be found in gravel pits, etc.. Pretty inspiring!
posted by Bob on 1-10-2008 at 1:40 pm
I’ll never forget the town of Poca in West Virginia near where I grew up. They were, you guessed it, the Poca Dots.
And they were just down the road from the town of Nitro, whose team was long since changed from the Bombers.
posted by Xaq on 1-10-2008 at 2:30 pm
A few more from the state of Kansas….
Pratt Greenbacks (mascot is the frogs)
Three towns within 50 miles of each other: Hill City Ringnecks (pheasants), Plainville Cardinals and the Palco Roosters. Yes, I am a proud alumni of the Fighting Roosters. But believe it or not, that was not the original name of the mascot, we were known as the Cocks before someone realized people are not thinking of a bird when they hear the mascot’s name.
As far as funny mascots, the radio announcers always have a hard time calling a game without laughing between the Topeka Seaman and the Topeka Trojans. Imagine all of the posters and cheers that get banned when ‘they’ play each other.
posted by Brenda on 1-11-2008 at 5:37 pm
There was a high school team that we used to play against in Alabama known as the Highland Home Fighting Squadron. Ironically, there is nothing anywhere near that town that has anything to do with airplanes, fighters or otherwise.
Also, the REAL story behind the Montgomery Biscuits minor league baseball team is quite funny. One of my brother’s friends won the name the team mascot contest with his suggestion of the “biscuit-eaters” (not the fluffy pastry from the oven) after his college intramural flag football team. Apparently, the contest judges had no idea.
posted by Lee on 1-12-2008 at 9:14 am
My Alma Mater, Carnegie Mellon University has the “Tartan.” In case you don’t know, a Tartan is a family plaid in Scotland - a throw-back to the school’s Scottish founder, Andrew Carnegie. Since a piece of plaid isn’t very intimidating on the field, the mascot is a Scottie Dog.
posted by Jamie on 1-14-2008 at 7:55 pm
Tulane University Green Wave. It’s not that crazy, but it is commonly said that the name was inspired by what happens when the incoming freshmen get back from their first night on Bourbon. Yuck. We Tulanians are nothing if not classy.
Our actual mascot is a pelican. I guess it’s a little tough to wear a wave.
posted by Lindsey on 1-14-2008 at 8:49 pm
Out in the middle of Texas, where Hwy 16 and Hwy 218 meet (both two-laners), sits the small town of Priddy…home of the Pirates!
posted by Jonny B on 1-15-2008 at 12:54 pm
My college roommate was from Sturgis, SD. Home of not only the famous motorcycle rally, but the Home of the Scoopers. It was originally a mining town. Their mascot was a miner waving a shovel around.
Others from the area:
the Spuds of Moorhead High School, MN
the Wops of Wahpeton High School, ND
the Cobbers of Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. Their mascot is big ear of corn.
a short-lived professional softball team in Minneapolis - the Minnesota Goofies.
(I don’t think the Goofies lasted a year, if they ever played a game at all.)
posted by JP on 1-15-2008 at 5:56 pm
The Poca (WV) Dots
posted by Happy Go on 1-16-2008 at 10:20 am
I’m shocked no one has mentioned Colonel Reb of the University of Mississippi(Ole Miss) Rebels! The subject of much controversy, he is no longer seen at any sports events, alhtough he is most definitly still the mascot - administration be damned! He is basically an old “Southern Gentleman” with a white beard and cane.
posted by Meghan on 1-16-2008 at 12:29 pm
How about Western Kentucky’s mascot “Big Red”? Sounds plausible enough until you discover that the big red blob has nothing to do with their name (the Hilltoppers) but is actually a big red towel!
posted by Susan Jones on 1-16-2008 at 12:47 pm
I went to UNT! (I didn’t attend a single sporting event while there, but that doesn’t really matter.) I was there when we changed from the “Eagles” to “Mean Green.” (it was around 2003 I think) I personally thought it was kind of stupid, I mean, the Eagles at least made sense. When they made the change, they let the students vote and one of the options was the albino squirrel (apparently there’s one that runs around the campus). I wanted that one to win, I think it has character. I had always wondered why it was “Mean Green-” now I know, it was from the last time UNT had a winning football team. :)
posted by greenstrawberries on 1-17-2008 at 5:18 am
In West Plains, Missouri the high school mascot is the Zizzer or something like that. My father went there and I dont even think he knows what it is.
posted by beatlett05 on 1-17-2008 at 10:17 am
He he I love reading all of this talk about what symbols are chosen to represent a school or team. My High School Mascot was a Shamrock, really not too intimidating huh? I never really learned the story behind it. . .
posted by Mascots rule on 1-17-2008 at 4:17 pm
In Macon GA, they had a minor league Hockey Team called the Macon Whoopee, like the newley wed game. I read that the mascot was a Whooping Crane and the logo the Crane, a hockey stick and a bee buzzing (The Birds and the Bees).
I’m Dying to get a shirt with that logo.
In Albany GA, they had minor league baseball team called the Polecats. That is a skunk for all you non-rednecks.
In Savannah GA, the minor league mascot is the Sand Gnats. For those not familiar, near the coast here in Savannah, there are small bugs that you can’t really see that will buzz and bite you. The are called by some as “No-See-Ums” but they have jaws like a Lion when they bite you. Extremely Annoying!
posted by Alex on 1-19-2008 at 10:13 pm
What about the Thundering Herd? Who ever heard of a Herd as a mascot?
posted by Grimbelly on 1-23-2008 at 11:40 am
My Baptist University was the Spartans, and its counterpart in another city is the Trojans.
But one of the Universities in the area’s Mascot is the Gorlock. They took the street names from the intersection where the school is located.
posted by tanya on 1-25-2008 at 9:51 am
The Yuma (AZ) High School Criminals-a result of school being held at the Yuma Territorial Prison prior to AZ statehood in 1912. The mascot resembling an Al Capone-era thug works well as a graphic (www.yumahighschool.com), not so much as a costume (oversized papier-mache head on a prison striped jumpsuit wearing cheerleader during my time…)
posted by RL on 1-30-2008 at 3:03 pm
To add to Kelly J’s comment, It’s the Verona (NJ) Hillbillies. The name started in the 50’s when one of the biggest football games of the year was interrupted because a cow wandered onto the field from one of the last remaining small farms in the area. It took a while to coax the cow away and sports reporters from all nearby towns quickly threw around derrogatory Hillbilly comments. Verona decided to embrace it. The mascot became a thin ragged hillbilly reclining on the ground next to a gallon jug of XXX moonshine, with a long shotgun resting on his shoulder with the barrel between his bare toes. This became a victim of 90’s “political correctness”. The shotgun became a fishing pole and the moonshine became a puppy. I know exactly who initiated that change, and I hate them. Ignorant kids with no clue as to why the mascot was made that way in the first place. Unfortunately, the alumni found out after the change occurred and we still refuse to recognize the mascot vandalized by political correctness.
posted by VHS Class of '86 on 2-6-2008 at 9:23 am
my elementary school mascot were the Acorns (not even the Mighty Acorns or Oaks or anything like that!) until the 1970s when we became the Panthers.
So when I went from a Pather to a Yearling and then a Brahma Bull in middle/high school it was a downgrade. And the Brahma is the ugliest hump-backed cow known to humanity.
posted by amy on 2-8-2008 at 9:36 am
Let’s not forget about the Jordan High School Beet-diggers in a Salt Lake City suburb — a nod to Utah’s once-flourishing sugar beet industry.
posted by Christa on 2-13-2008 at 2:41 pm
You forgot the Rhode Island School of Design, with two strange team names. We have a hockey team called the NADS (GO NADS!) and a basketball team called the BALLS (When the heat is on, the balls stick together!)
As for our mascot, I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say his name is “Scrotie.” His picture has been on collegehumor.com before. And yes, this is all true. My dad even has a GO NADS t-shirt.
posted by kris on 2-24-2008 at 12:07 pm
best high school mascot…
the blooming prairie awesome blossoms… it’s actually an angry daisy!
and the MN Twins have TC the bear.. who doesnt have a twin as far as i know
posted by katie on 2-24-2008 at 4:16 pm
I went to school in Norwalk, Ohio, which is home to the Norwalk High Truckers. The mascot, or maybe logo is a better word, is a little happy semitruck. Not to be outdone, the Catholic High school is the St. Paul Flyers, with a little airplane for a logo, also smiling.
Now I live in Yuma with the Criminals…
posted by Rox on 2-27-2008 at 3:52 pm
What about the Oklahoma University “Sooners?” I’m pretty sure no one outside of Oklahoma knows what a Sooner is: during the Land Run the Sooners were people who hid out and claimed land before the Run started. A Boomer was someone who claimed land during the Run.
Hence the fight song: “Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner…”
Their mascot? A covered wagon. Seriously.
posted by sheridan on 3-4-2008 at 2:23 pm
my high school is the verona hillbillies (:
posted by Bridget on 3-5-2008 at 2:35 pm
The mascot of the university I attended used to be the Engineers. It was a man dressed in a blue and white train conductor’s uniform. I am not totally sure it made sense either, since our school colors are brown and white, and while we ARE known for having a good engineering school, it’s not a TRAIN engineering school. The only connection I can see is that the town used to be known for its steel mill, and train tracks are steel…?
The mascot is now a mountain hawk, which admittedly is more traditional, and sort of makes sense since we are on the side of a mountain, but isn’t nearly as interesting.
posted by Allison on 4-7-2008 at 11:05 am
Of course you meant to say the “Rambling Wreck” was heading from ATLANTA to ATHENS to watch a football game against the University of Georgia.
With Gergia Tech being in Atlanta this would seem more likely.
posted by Chris on 5-1-2008 at 11:58 am
The University of Alberta’s mascot is a Panda. The logo looks absolutely terrifying, so it must work.
posted by Mandi on 5-5-2008 at 3:22 pm
and there is that great minor league hockey team: the Macon Whoopee
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 5-8-2008 at 1:16 am
In Decatur, Illinois there is the Millikin University “Big Blue”. Not quite sure what that is.
posted by Leslie on 5-8-2008 at 12:50 pm
I can’t believe no one has mentioned my high school alma mater! I am a proud Frankfort (IN) Hot Dog! Our mascot was a Dachshund. He snarled at you from center court.
As for what is a Hoosier someone asked? If you go by the old legend, there was a supervisor working on the Ohio River named Sam Hoosier. He had workers on both the Indiana and Kentucky sides of the river. It was said he favored the Indiana workers and they were called Hoosier’s men or Hoosiers.
posted by Lynn on 5-8-2008 at 1:47 pm