1. Cy the Cardinal, Iowa State University Cyclones. I have to put this one in here, ‘cause I’m an ISU alum and still like to tailgate it up during football season. So why is a cardinal the mascot of a team named after a force of nature? Because it’s kind of hard to make a mascot out of a tornado, Cy the Cardinal was chosen by students in 1954 to represent the school colors of cardinal and gold. The “Cyclones” moniker came in 1895, when the ISU football team trounced Northwestern and a reporter noted, “"Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday." Photo: ISU Alumni Association
2. Sammy the Banana Slug, University of California Santa Cruz. When the University decided to get into the NCAA game in 1980, it was decided that the school’s mascot would be the venerable sea lion. But students at UC Santa Cruz had grown attached to the colorful slugs that populated the redwoods on campus and had sort of adopted them as an unofficial mascot, so when the university announced their sea lion decision, students rallied together to lobby for the hermaphroditic Ariolimax columbianus. They won, and Sammy has been one of the most recognizable college mascots ever since.
3. The Boilermaker Special, Purdue University. Some background: the first reference to the Boilermaker name came in an 1890s newspaper article that called the Purdue team “Burly Boiler Makers,” which was a nod to their engineering roots. Even so, the university had no official mascot until 1937, when a student suggested a “mechanical man” or something similar as a mascot. The idea snowballed into building a train that could be driven like a car, which showed off the school’s prowess in the engineering realm while giving them a meaningful mascot at the same time. The train would then carry fans to other cities for games, and became known as Boilermaker Specials. Today, Purdue is on Boilermaker Special V and the X-Tra Special VI, a mini version that can go indoors. Purdue also has Purdue Pete, a human Boilermaker who carries around a hammer. Photo from Purdue Reamer Club.
4. Gladys the Fighting Squirrel, Mary Baldwin College in Virginia. The school’s mascot is the squirrel because Mary Baldwin had a squirrel in her family crest. I can’t find a single thing on why they named her Gladys. Any Neatoramanauts know the story? My research did turn up another interesting fact, though: Tallulah Bankhead was a Mary Baldwin grad.
5. Artie the Fighting Artichoke – Scottsdale Community College. The school needed a new mascot in the 1970s, but at the time, the student government was mad at the administration for steering funding toward athletics instead of academics. So they picked three unorthodox mascots and let the students vote. The choices? The Artichokes, the Rutabagas or the Scoundrels. Former college president Art DeCabooter says the artichoke won out because it’s got heart. Ha. Photo from JamesStephanieKayley
6. Boll Weevil, University of Arkansas Monticello. This name comes courtesy of former school President Frank Horsfall, who noted in 1925 that “the only gosh-darned thing that ever licked the South was the boll weevil.”
7. John Poet – Whittier College, California. This one is pretty easy - the school is named after poet and abolitionist John Whittier. The town the college is in is also called Whittier. Richard Nixon is probably Whittier's most famous Poet (although it has lots of notable alumni, including the actress who played Kimmie Gibler on Full House) - he was an accomplished football, basketball and track runner for Whittier. Photo from Whittier.
8. Speedy the Geoduck, Evergreen State College, Washington. Surely an inspired mascot if I’ve ever heard one. The geoduck (gooey-duck) isn’t a waterfowl, as you might suspect, but a mollusk. It’s native to the Pacific Northwest, which explains why the college chose it as a mascot. Sort of. Also notable: Matt Groening was an Evergreen State Geoduck. Here’s Speedy doing his thing:
9. The Anchormen, Rhode Island College. I'm not even going to lie - I was totally picturing a mascot that looked similar to Ron Burgandy. It turns out by "Anchormen," they mean "sailors." Dang. As for the inspiration - one of the nicknames for Rhode Island is the Ocean State, so it really does make sense when you think about it. But I still prefer to think of a mascot running around in a suit and big hair, carrying a microphone and talking about his "guns."
10. The Student Princes, Heidelberg University, Ohio. Prior to 1926, the team was known as the Cardinals. But then the university's alumni director saw a movie called The Student Prince, which was about a prince who went to the Heidelberg University in Germany. He was inspired to start calling his students the same thing, and it caught on. At first it was just an unofficial, on-campus thing, but quickly grew to sports writers and the media. Others that I was interested in but couldn't find a good backstory on? The Long Beach Dirtbags (baseball only) and the Columbia College Claim Jumpers.
What are your favorite weird mascots? I have a friend who was a Fighting Pretzel in high school.
http://www.wku.edu/bigred.html
http://deadspin.com/sports/whimsy/your-alltime-best-mascot-winner-176616.php
Goooo NADS!
I went to Tulane, where our mascot is a pelican, affectionately refered to as Pecker by the students. Not surprisingly, the adminstration doesn't approve of that nickname. Roll Wave!
I like the Pittsburg State Gorillas.
Also known as the "ass-kickin' chickens" to many of the students...
Lyrics from our fight song (although, being a notorious hippie school, we don't fight, really),
"Go, Geoducks go,
Through the mud and the sand,
let's go.
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out.
Go, Geoducks go,
Stretch your necks when the tide
is low
Siphon high, squirt it out,
swivel all about,
let it all hang out."
And yes, I want to remind everyone that it is an accredited college.
A few years ago, a cyclone touched down on central campus in the middle of the day. Many trees went down and IIRC a couple of backpacks were lifted off students and whisked away (providing an excellent excuse for not turning in homework). Having our mascot visit in "living form" is not so great actually.
Go 'clones
http://www.austincollege.edu/Info.asp?3928
Let's hope we don't have another perfect season in football this year.
GO CLONES!
In 2001, the Nads created the infamous, and unofficial mascot, "Scrotie," a man-sized penis wearing a red cape. RISD students claim Cooper Union and Pratt Institute as their archrivals in sporting events, and the two hold an annual basketball match in both Providence and New York.
Go, AC Roos! Two high schools in Texas - Killeen and Weatherford - also have kangaroo mascots, but only one other university in the U.S. - U Missouri-Kansas City http://www.umkckangaroos.com/ My Australian friends are a bit mystified by the mascot concept...
Fight, fight, Inner Light,
Kill, Quakers, kill!
David G.- our mascot was a friggin kangaroo named "Moe." Our team name was/is the "Keydets" and the only thing I can see these two sharing is their first letter. I have yet to see anything in the historical works of the Virginia Military Institute to explain why a kangaroo and why "Moe." The closest I can come up with is a large fan base of Three Stooges fans (hence "Moe") and someone trying to get a free trip to Australia to round up a fitting marsupial.
I went to grad school at USC, which has an odd mascot, the Trojan. It was not named after the condom... they got the name because Cecil B. DeMille recruited the band to play a marching band in an epic about the Trojan wars, and they kept the uniforms afterwards. (It was a silent movie, ironically.) The nickname previously was the Wesleyans.
I did my undergrad at Columbia who have a fairly generic nickname the Lions. It doesn't fit the name of the school, which is the Latin word for "pigeon." But it does fit the original name of the school, Kings College. The pigeon would have been a better mascot, I think: it even fits the school colors, which are a greyish blue and white, much the same colors as a typical pigeon.
The unofficial nickname of Long Beach State 49er baseball team refers to the program’s style of play and success against higher profile programs. The moniker was first coined for Coach Snow’s first team in 1989 which was comprised of nearly all new players. Playing without a home field (LBCC, Cerritos JC and Blair Field), and practicing at a local all-dirt Pony Field, that team won its first 18 games and advanced to the 49ers first College World Series appearance. Then-infield coach Dave Malpass would take his infielders to the all-dirt field for their rigorous workout. The infielders would return to the regular practice field after their sessions covered in dirt. Thus the name “Dirtbags” was born. The name resurfaced again in 1993 when the 12-12 49ers rallied to win 34 of their next 41 games and finish three outs short of the National Championship game. The “Dirtbags” were once again a fan favorite at the 1998 College World Series as the country received a lesson in “Dirtbag” baseball.
Even though it says "unofficial", there's not a fan in the stands at Blair that knows them by anything other than the Dirtbags. Except occasionally the D-Bags when they're losing.
'Cause few things in life feel better than telling a defeated opponent that "you've just been beaten by a bunch of naked androgynous baby-dolls."
Interesting story on the Oglethorpe University mascot:
The Stormy Petrel is an extinct, seafaring bird. Similar to a seagull. It would land on the masts of ships back during the age of exploration.
Not sure that it's true, but the story I've often heard is that the birds developed an oily substance on their wings, which was quite flammable.
Upon the appearance of a stormy petrel on their deck, sailors would know that land was near. They'd wait until dark, take a match to the bird's wings, and watch the direction it flew in order to follow it to shore.
Again, not sure if it's fact or fiction...but it makes for an interesting story behind a landlocked University whose mascot is an extinct bird.
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I'm also a big fan of the Purple Cows from Williams College, and the Fighting Christians from Eloy. Nothing to strike the fear of God into a rival football team like a Fighting Christian.
The Unicorns!
When I went there, we also went by the Unis. Also, before we chose the Unicorns, the TI-83 was a potential candidate.
The University of Akron has a kangaroo mascots so UMKC is not the only other University. U of A is also ncaa division 1 in all their sports.