One might ask ‘What’s in a name?’ Everything

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

A fellow named Adam Joshua Smargon has a lot of free time and one peculiar passion, which prove enjoyable to students of college athletics. Smargon has compiled and regularly updates a list of thousands of American college athletic teams’ symbols, mascots and nicknames.

To make the Smargon list, which runs more than 50 single-spaced pages but is not comprehensive (“nor even close to it,” he says), the subject college or university must be located in the United States, and must be a member of an athletic division within the NCAAor the NAIA, which governs small colleges.

Some of the most enduring and best-known college sports icons are unique. There’s only one Fighting Irish, only one Sooners and only one Orangemen, although Syracuse bent to the pressures of political correctness and changed their symbol to simply “Orange.” The Texas Longhorns are unique, as are the Kansas Jayhawks, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, Georgia Tech’s Ramblin’ Wreck and the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Likewise, colorful Saturday afternoon television images of the Purdue Boilermakers, the Richmond Spiders, the Arizona State Sun Devils, the Carolina Tar Heels, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Penn State Nittany Lions, the Maryland Terrapins and the Thundering Herd of Marshall are found nowhere else in all of college athletics.

Princeton’s Tigers are not unique — there are 44 college teams bearing the name Tigers — but the Harvard Crimson is one of a kind, as are the celebrated Elis of Yale. The Furman Paladins stand alone, as do the Keydets of VMI, the Hawaii Rainbow, the Akron Zips, the Wichita State Shockers, Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Toledo Rockets. The Indiana Hoosiers, the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and the Virginia Tech Hokies all have been opponents of the Seminoles.

We Division I schools are very, very serious about our symbols, but many colleges and universities sport charmingly unique team names, mascots that are endearing to the fans. Who would not want to cheer for the Cal-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, or the Cal-Irvine Anteaters? And what name could Converse College possibly adopt other than, of course, the All-Stars. Likewise, Brooklyn College teams must be the Bridges.

Team names with a unique local appeal would include the Black Flies of the College of the Atlantic, the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College, the Columbia College (California) Claim Jumpers, the North Dakota Mines & Technology Hardrockers, the University of Alaska-Southeast Humpback Whales, the Arkansas Tech Wonderboys, the Keel Haulers of the California Maritime Academy, and the Evergreen State College Geoducks.

Perhaps there’s a more relaxed, even whimsical approach to college athletics among the Whittler College Poets (yes, they play football), the Heidelberg College Student Princes, the Rowan College Professors and the Lord Jeffs of Amherst. And surely, an afternoon of athletic contests between the Sweet Briar College Vixens and the Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms would serve the highest order of sportsmanship.

Florida State played the Salukis of Southern Illinois in football not too many years ago. It’s an Egyptian dog and no, I have no idea how it came to settle in Illinois. There are two Antelopes (Grand Canyon University and Nebraska-Kearney). Lyrics to “Home on the Range” aside, antelopes are native to Asia and Africa and are not found here in North America. Presumably, the only chance you’d have to see an actual antelope in this hemisphere is to catch a performance by Siegfried & Roy.

Some names we’d normally assume to be unique are not. There are two Gamecocks. The one not coached by Steve Spurrier is Jacksonville State in Alabama. Likewise, the Rebels of Ole Miss are seen again at the University of Maine-Augusta, though one assumes the battle flags are different. There are three Red Raiders, three Hurricanes, several Wolfpacks, and even two 49ers.

If you were to guess, you’d probably say that the Mary Baldwin College Squirrels would be unique, but not so. Not 90 miles away in Richmond, the Union Theological Seminary embraces the same rodent. Even our own storied Florida A&M Rattlers has a nickname counterpart in St Mary’s University in San Antonio.

Six college teams call themselves the Gators, although one came to that name through frustration. San Francisco State University thought it would be clever to call themselves the Golden Gaters, but the Golden Gate reference flew over the heads of most fans, opponents and the media who consistently referred to them as Golden Gators. Eventually, San Francisco dropped the golden and embraced the gator.

Some of the names are close but not quite the same. There’s the Crimson Tide of Alabama, the Crimson Wave of Calumet College of St Joseph and the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene University (who used to be the Redskins until 1998).

Eagles is easily the most popular choice with 53 teams proudly flying that moniker. If you count Golden Eagles as well, the total is 68. Add the Soaring Eagles and Screaming Eagles and the total rises above 70.

And finally, the Zias of Eastern New Mexico — women’s teams only — honors the sun symbol of the Zia Indians of New Mexico.

This ends Part I of a two-part series on symbols, mascots and nicknames. Part II will appear in the November 2005 issue.