Anteaters and Flyers and Great Danes

Since "my" teams aren't even in the NCAA basketball tournament this year with a few highly tangential exceptions (I was born in Las Cruces, NM, and have always liked the New Mexico State Aggies, and I've rooted for the Oregon Ducks for years), I thought this was a good time to distract myself from my teams' plights and reprise my post of two years ago regarding my favorite college nicknames.

Here is the second ten of my favorite college monikers: 

University of California at Irvine Anteaters. The Anteaters make their initial appearance in the NCAA Division I basketball tournament this year. While the Anteater name is a little bit of California too-cool, having been chosen in a student election in 1965, it is unique and, unlike the UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, not completely absurd. Plus, how can you not like the school battle-cry: "Zot!"?

"Peter the Anteater." Peter seems extraordinarily well-
muscled and slim for an anteater. (photo from uci.edu)

Dayton Flyers. The Flyers are named, naturally enough, after native Daytonian pioneers of flight Orville and Wilbur Wright. Beats the school's first nickname: the Saints. 

Albany Great Danes. Also the result of a student election, also in 1965, the Great Dane was chosen to replace Pedwin the Penguin, the former mascot. You can't make this stuff up.

Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. There doesn't seem to be any information on how the Delta Devils got their nickname, but that doesn't make it less cool. Plus, Jerry Rice went there, increasing the coolness factor exponentially.

Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns. Formerly one of Louisiana's "directional schools" (Southwest Louisiana) the Cajuns are another moniker chosen by a coach. In 1963 football coach Russ Faulkinberry changed the nickname of his team from the Bulldogs to Ragin' Cajuns in homage to the school's location in Acadiana, deep in Cajun Country.

Indiana State Sycamores. Originally the "Fighting Teachers" the students voted for Sycamores as their new nickname sometime in the 1950's. Apparently they had male and female Native American mascots but abandoned those due to sensitivity issues in the late '80's. Now their mascot is "Sycamore Sam" a "furry woodland creature." Can't win 'em all. But the Sycamores almost did win it all once.

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens. A nickname with a history that dates back to the Revolutionary War, the Hens are named after famous fighting cocks that originated in Delaware and were know for their recognizable blue plumage and ferocity. Presumably PETA has yet to successfully convinced the school to change its mascot.

Murray State Racers. The Racers were originally the Thoroughbreds, but the name proved unwieldy for copywriters and was shortened first to T-Breds, then to Breds and Racers. Racers was adopted as the official name in 1961, although the baseball team stuck with tradition and Thoroughbreds or Breds until last year.

Texas Christian Horned Frogs. The TCU website boasts that the nickname has existed longer than the school's name itself, having been chosen by four students in 1897 at what was then AddRan Christian University. Turns out the Horned Frog is not in fact a frog but a lizard that, when angered, "can squirt a fine, four-foot stream of blood from [its] eyes." Don't mess with the Frogs. Lizards. Whatever.

Western Illinois Leathernecks. The only non-military university in the U.S. authorized to use a military nickname (which makes sense since there is no separate academy for the Marine Corps), the school has been known as the Leathernecks since 1927. It was then that Ray Hanson, the AD and coach of the baseball, football, and basketball teams (busy man!) sought permission from the Corps, in which he had served during WW I, to use not only the nickname but also its official seal and mascot (the bulldog) at the school. Salute!

Lions and Tigers and Blue Hose

I am a connoisseur of sports nicknames. And while "March Madness" is mostly about basketball, for me it's at least a little about being exposed to one or two nicknames that I had never heard before.

There are 347 colleges playing NCAA Division I men's basketball this season.  Most have boring nicknames like Tigers, Lions, and Bulldogs.  And that's fine -- I like bulldogs. But the ones that pique my interest are the unusual ones. There's something special about a unique nickname and what it says about the school.

Nicknames originate from a variety of sources: school administrators, students, an actual vote, long-standing tradition. Many college nicknames were not chosen by the school or its students, but were first appended to teams by sportswriters. Back when scribes actually reported on athletes (or, this time of year, "cagers" which my brother assures me is a term that's still used), they had to come up with different ways to name the team, to depart from the monotony of repeating the school's name over and again, if nothing else. Still others were chosen by a particular coach. 

So, while I bear no animosity toward any nickname (with the possible exception, as my friend Mary used to say, of a certain "worthless hairy nut") I much prefer the unique names, especially those with a history behind them (not the made-up, Johnny-come lately Banana Slugs or Cardinal). In no particular order, here are some of my favorite collegiate nicknames, along with a little background of the origin of the name.

Idaho Vandals. Okay, I lied. There is some order -- the Vandals are my all-time favorite nickname. There are lots of Spartans, Trojans, and Vikings, but for your hard-core pillagers and anarchists, I'll take a Vandal every time. Did the Vikings or the Spartans or the Trojans take down Gaul and Rome? I don't think so. An Idaho basketball coach from the 1910's first referred to his team's defense as so fierce that they "vandalized" their opponents; a writer for the school newspaper first referred to the team as the "Vandals."

Canisius Golden Griffins. The griffins of Greek mythology have the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. But this nickname comes from a ship (believe it or not) that was built in Buffalo, NY and was the first vessel to sail the Upper Great Lakes: "Le Griffon."

Manhattan Jaspers. What is a Jasper you might ask? The correct question would actually be "Who was Jasper?" Brother Jasper was a Christian Brothers (F.S.C.) priest who was a BPOC in the late 19th century and introduced baseball to the school.

St. Louis Billikens. The Billiken is a goofy looking Buddha-like figure that was a charm doll created in the early 20th Century by a St. Louis illustrator and art teacher. It's not entirely clear how or why SLU adopted the Billiken nickname other than a supposed resemblance between the charm and a former football coach, John Bender, and its proximity to its creator.

Presbyterian Blue Hose. If they were called the "Blue Socks" it wouldn't seem all that unusual. But while at one time sportswriters apparently referred to them as either the Blue Stockings or the Blue Hose, the later won out, and an unusual name was born.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Another nickname coined by a sportswriter, trying to capture the spirit of a revived athletic program in the 1920's. Thank goodness we're still not "The Baptists." The Demon Deacon mascot is the perfect combination of a top-hatted Deacon with an impish attitude that represents the oxymoronic name.

A photo that appears to be from the 2007
Orange Bowl. Unfortunately, appearances at
such venues are few and far between for the Deacon.

Akron Zips. They were actually once the Zippers, named after a popular rubber shoe manufactured by BF Goodrich in Akron. With the advent of metal zippers that replaced buttons in pants, Akron thought it wise to shorten the nickname to the Zips. Their mascot is Zippy the Kangaroo. Honest.

Southern Illinois Salukis. The only school chosen here that got its nickname via a campus-wide vote. SIU was known as "The Maroons" before they decided a better moniker was in order. While Salukis are cool dogs, the nickname makes even more sense when one understands that the Southern part of Illinois has long been referred to as "Egypt."

Richmond Spiders. Another nickname inspired by a person (in this case a baseball pitcher) and bestowed by a sportswriter. The only arachnid-named school to my knowledge, although I always thought that one of the all-girls' schools was missing out by not naming itself the "Black Widows."

Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. "Gamecocks" is just fine, but Chanticleers? Very cool. Chanticleer was a rooster who ruled the roost in one of Canterbury's Tales. When the school went looking for a nickname to replace "Trojans" it wanted to identify with South Carolina's Gamecocks (it was a two-year branch of USC at the time) but keep a separate identity. And so they settled on Chanticleer.

So those are some of my favorite unusual names. I'm hoping to find one or two more in this year's tournament. But in the meantime, is there one out there that you're particularly fond of that didn't make my list? If so, post a comment and let us know.