School Mascots/Nicknames, Interesting/Unique
 

I have no idea if this has been dicussed (probably because EVERYTHINGS been discussed) so I don't wanna hear it if it has!

But...here's the Topic(Inspired by the annoying sig thread):

Do you have an interesting school mascot/nickname, or an interesting story behind your school mascot/nickname?


Here at Western Illinois University we have Rocky the Bulldog, but our offical nickname is the Leathernecks (for the males, the females are Westerwinds). What's interesting about this is we are the only non-military school in the nation that is authorized to use the "Leatherneck" nickname.

Oglrthorpe University
 

Our mascot is Petey the Stormy Petrel. If you don't know what a petrel is, it's an extremely fat, oily extinct bird. They were primarily kept on ships. When there was a bad storm, they would light the bird on fire and set it free so that it could find land. It's one of my favorite stories to tell about my college.

Does your university have a funny or unusual mascot?
Sorry, I beat you to it with my UCSC "Banana Slugs" thread.

http://slugweb.com/slugweb/_images/PulpFiction.jpg
The best mascot EVER!!

It's a little different though...

I don't consiter the Leatherneck nickname to be funny or unusual...

There's nothing funny about Leatherneck (Ok, maybe when the audience shouts out "Let's go Necks" and the marching band chooses to leave out every other word forming "Let's Neck"...gets old quickly, trust me, 2 years of colorguard)

And Leatherneck isn't really that unusual...it's used in the military...

That's why I picked unique/interesting instead...

Leatherneck sounds like "Leatherface" from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. <shudder!>

http://www.washburn.edu/alumni/image...od3ColorCA.jpghttp://www.washburn.edu/alumni/image...estColorCA.jpg

GO Ichabods!!!!!

This unusual mascot was chosen to honor the school's early benefactor, Ichabod Washburn.
Washburn University was originally established as Lincoln College in 1865. Three years later, the school faced bankruptcy, and Washburn, a Massachusetts philanthropist, donated $25,000 to the school. In appreciation of this gift, the name of the educational institution was changed to Washburn College.

Ichabod Washburn was respected as a man of public spirit and strong moral character, virtues students sought to reflect with the adoption of the Ichabod as the school mascot. For the first 70 years, however, the mascot existed in name only. It wasn't until 1938 that the original design of the studious-looking, tuxedo-clad figure was created by Bradbury Thompson, a student who became a nationally recognized graphic artist.

no one takes the cake like my high school

The Cairo(pronounced K-ro) High School Syrupmakers

Our mascot is a syrup pitcher.
They would shorten the cheers to say 'Go Makers!'
My favorite fight song was the song 'Hey, Baby'
During the music part, we would sing 'S-Y-R-UP-MAKERS!'
And then, 'Hey, baby. . .I want to know. . .would you be my guy?'
Our junior year, we made a sign that said 'pack them like pickles and sop them like biscuits!'
Yes, folks. . .this school was in the dirty south.

Edited to add:
They used to be Tigers. The school sits right next to the factory that makes Karo Syrup, the Roddenberry place. One rainy football game, Mr Roddenberry gave out raincoats to the coaches that all had 'Syrupmakers' on the back. Then, after the game, they struck a deal to change the name to 'Syrupmakers' for donations of the raincoats. . .and probably other funds as well. But that's how I heard they got the name.

Ok, I can't beat the syrupmakers, but.... my high school mascot was the greyhound. Not so unusual, really, but it was the greyhound like on the bus. Why? Because there was at one time a Greyhound bus route through my hometown (or so the story goes.)

As for college, the 'real' mascot was Tuffy the Eagle. I'll have to see if I can dig up the story, but in years long past, there was a molding company that made these eagle statues. Some of the students took it upon themselves to go eagle hunting, and they would drive states away to steal these eagles. The birds would then be found nesting on our campus. Eventually, the company (which has since gone out of business) gave up on the fight to keep students from stealing the birds and gave the mold to the school. So, there are several eagles guarding the buildings across campus, each named for a professor or other prominent person in the school's history.

To go along with Tuffy the Eagle, we also had The Purple Avenger when I was in school. I never figured out where the idea for him came from, but I wonder if the costume is still in use...

My high school was the greyhounds too! And ours looked just like the one on the bus too!

There's always Ohio State's famous "Brutus the Buckeye." In case you don't know, a Buckeye is a nut that falls off of trees with no known value.

Glad I'm an Ohio University Bobcat.

some still shots from BIG RED'S espn commercials....to actually see them, click here

http://www.wku.edu/images/bigred/br10.jpg
http://www.wku.edu/images/bigred/br8.jpg
http://www.wku.edu/images/bigred/br1.jpg
http://www.wku.edu/images/bigred/br15.jpg

now tell me he ain't cooh! ;)

Ours is the Clarion Golden Eagle, more commonly referred to as the Screaming Chicken.

High School we were the Central Falcons, Middle- Wilson President, Elementary Lincoln Super Stars.

It's kind of nice to know we're not alone! You are the only other person I've heard that from. :)

What's even better is that when someone dressed up as our greyhound, the head looked like a scary rat head! :p :rolleyes:

i'm surprised you didn't throw the RedHawk into that post!! ;)