(07-26-2015 11:00 AM)Saint Greg Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 10:05 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 09:27 AM)SApuro Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 08:27 PM)davi78239 Wrote:  I just know we were almost the Armadillos before Roadrunners got the win .

Fightin' Armadillos would have been awesome!

I agree. UTSA should have gone with Armadillos.

That thing resembles Alice Cooper....

(07-25-2015 05:09 PM)owlcountry40 Wrote:  What is the story of why your school is called what's it's called.
For example FAU is named after the Owls because well we have lots of Owls living on an around campus.
The burrowing owl is a small,but nasty little Owls who will chase you if to close to the nest.
Rumor has it there was student vote on the mascot and it was between the blue wave and owls,but despite the students voting the school went with the owls.

It's not just that we had a lot of Burrowing Owls (we did), there was also a large Owl sanctuary that, with years had been willowed down to a small fenced in yard.

(07-26-2015 12:56 PM)GreenSteve Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 11:00 AM)Saint Greg Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 10:05 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 09:27 AM)SApuro Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 08:27 PM)davi78239 Wrote:  I just know we were almost the Armadillos before Roadrunners got the win .

Fightin' Armadillos would have been awesome!

I agree. UTSA should have gone with Armadillos.

That thing resembles Alice Cooper....

That's one heavy eyeshadow wearing Armadilla.

http://explore.rice.edu/explore/Rice_Traditions.asp Wrote:Rice Academic Seal and Logo Rice Academic Seal
The academic seal of Rice University was designed in 1912 by Mr. Pierre de Chaignon la Rose of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who combined the main elements of the arms of sixteen prominent families bearing the names "Rice" or "Houston." Owls of Athena-symbolic of wisdom-were chosen for the charges. The Athenian owls on the Rice seal were patterned after a design found on a small, silver tetradrachmenon coin dating from the middle of the fifth century B.C. And because Rice University was dedicated by its founder to the advancement of "letters, science, and art," these words also were incorporated into the seal.

Rice Colors: Blue and Gray
In 1912, Rice's first president, Edgar Odell Lovett, chose as the school colors "a blue still deeper than the Oxford blue" and "the Confederate gray, enlivened by a tinge of lavender." It has been suggested that blue and gray were chosen in recognition of the fact that Rice's founder amassed much of the fortune that formed the initial endowment of the Rice Institute by trading with both the North and the South during the Civil War.

Rice Mascot: Owl
When athletic activities began at the Rice Institute in 1912, the teams adopted as their mascot the owl from the Rice seal. Over the years, Rice's various mascots have included students dressed in owl costumes, live Great Horned Owls, and large owl statues of fiberglass and of canvas, the latter being particularly famous in Rice lore (see below).

Mascot Name: "Sammy"
An early symbol of Rice's athletic teams was large canvas owl, a tempting target for the Institute's rivals. In 1917, when students from Southwest Conference football rival Texas A&M kidnapped the owl, Rice students pooled their resources and hired a private detective to go to College Station to find the missing mascot. When the detective, having recovered the owl, sent a coded telegram to Houston that read "Sammy is fairly well and would like to see his parents at eleven o'clock," the Rice mascot had a name.

Why The Thundering Herd? (from Herdzone.com)

The Thundering Herd is American folklore ... as old as the buffalo (actually, American Bison) that roam the western plains. The Herd once provided nearly every substance needed for human survival, including food, clothing, tools and weapons. The Herd still provides Marshall University's athletic teams with their nickname.

"Thundering Herd" has long been recognized by sports enthusiasts as one of the great, distinctive nicknames in college athletics. But on several occasions throughout Marshall's history other nicknames have been suggested and, on occasion, been hung on the school.

The first nickname of record is "Indians", a moniker bestowed upon the pre-1900 athletic teams and due to the historic ties of the Cherokee and Shawnee tribes in the area). By about 1910, sparked by the color of team uniforms (first using Green and White in 1903, a nice change from earlier Black and Blue), "Big Green" began to be used in reference to Marshall athletics. Criticized by some from its inception as being boring, Big Green was soon ripe for replacement. "Normalists" was also used as Marshall College was the State Normal School from 1867-1920, when it became a four-year college).

When Huntington Herald-Dispatch sportswriter and former Marshall baseball coach Carl "Duke" Ridgley referred to a late-1920s squad as a "Thundering Herd," after a then-current movie based on the 1925 Zane Gray novel and soon to follow silent movie of the same name - as well as the national championship teams of USC in the era - it caught on quickly. Both "Thundering Herd" and "Big Green" have been used in reference to Marshall ever since.

It didn't take long, however, for Thundering Herd to draw criticism as well. Some folks thought it inappropriate since it came with connotations of the western plains and didn't represent West Virginia or founding father John Marshall. One suggested nickname, which never caught on, would have honored John Marshall by calling the school's teams the "Judges" by the sports editor of The Parthenon, Marshall's student newspaper.

The evening paper in Huntington was The Huntington Advertiser, and former Marshall team manager and sports editor of the HA was Fred Burns, and he and Ridgely had quite a rivalry in print. HA writer Doug "Dug" Freutal (a former Marshall star for ther 1919 8-0 team) in 1933 started referring to Marshall teams as the "Boogercats" (referring to Scotland's Bogie Cats, a "fleet, elusive, courageous" animal) and some other scribes followed in using that nickname. Freutal complained that "Thundering Herd" made one think of "cows stampeding down a country road," but many people thought "Boogercats" stirred up worse images than that, and as a former Herd player he brought that to the argument.

The "Boogercat" controversy sparked the Marshall alumni association to hold a special meeting, in which a vote was taken to refer to the school teams as the "Thundering Herd" for the time being - but that a study should be undertaken to find a mascot that had a connection with the school or West Virginia. In 1931, a live Bison was purchased from the Marland 101 Ranch in Oklahoma for the school.

Despite Burn's and Freutal's attempts to keep "Boogercat" alive for the next couple of years, "Thundering Herd" and "Big Green" remained the commonly used nicknames. In 1958 the Marshall student body, without input from the faculty, administration or alumni, decided that two nicknames wouldn't do and held a vote to settle the issue. Along with "Thundering Herd" and "Big Green", one group of students bought a turkey as a suggested mascot and promoted the name "Green Gobblers."

The students voted "Big Green" as the nickname, but the media continued to use "Thundering Herd" to refer to the teams. "Green Gobblers" flew away.

In the fall of 1964 now Marshall University President Stewart Smith appointed a faculty-student committee to suggest a more permanent nickname, feeling that "Big Green" denoted no action and was not appropriately symbolic. The nine-member committee narrowed its field to "Big Green," "Thundering Herd" and "Rams," which had been suggested by Huntington businessman Leonard Samworth, a past president of the alumni association. He even suggested the mascot name be "Sam the Ram."

On January 5, 1965, over 85 percent of the Marshall students picked "Thundering Herd" above the others and chose to keep "Marco" as the name of the buffalo/American Bison as the official mascot (even though MARCO stood for MARshall COllege, and the school became a University in March of 1961) and "Green and White" as the official school colors. The athletic fundraising organization took on the name The Big Green Scholarship Foundation, and "Sam the Ram" was left by the wayside along with "Judges", "Indians," "Normalists" and, of course, "Boogercats."

(07-26-2015 10:08 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 11:08 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  The nickname "49ers" derives from the fact that the university's predecessor—Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (CCUNC - established in 1946) was saved from being shut down by the state in 1949 by Bonnie Cone, when the Charlotte Center became Charlotte College. Due to this "49er spirit" that Cone felt embodied the University, referring to the settlers that endured much hardships in traveling across the United States to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush, students of the fledgling UNC Charlotte chose "49ers" as the school's mascot. The fact that the site of the U.S.'s first major gold discovery, Reed's Gold Mine, is located nearby may also be a contributing factor to the nickname. The fact that the University's Main Campus front entrance is located on North Carolina Highway 49 is pure coincidence.

Prior to the "49ers" moniker, the athletic teams were known as the "Owls" due to CCUNC's beginnings as a night school.

Should have keep the Owl. Why would you want to name your mascot after the people that left for California?

Yeah, it's stupid.

(07-27-2015 02:37 PM)Niner National Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 10:08 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 11:08 PM)49RFootballNow Wrote:  The nickname "49ers" derives from the fact that the university's predecessor—Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina (CCUNC - established in 1946) was saved from being shut down by the state in 1949 by Bonnie Cone, when the Charlotte Center became Charlotte College. Due to this "49er spirit" that Cone felt embodied the University, referring to the settlers that endured much hardships in traveling across the United States to seek fortune in the California Gold Rush, students of the fledgling UNC Charlotte chose "49ers" as the school's mascot. The fact that the site of the U.S.'s first major gold discovery, Reed's Gold Mine, is located nearby may also be a contributing factor to the nickname. The fact that the University's Main Campus front entrance is located on North Carolina Highway 49 is pure coincidence.

Prior to the "49ers" moniker, the athletic teams were known as the "Owls" due to CCUNC's beginnings as a night school.

Should have keep the Owl. Why would you want to name your mascot after the people that left for California?

Yeah, it's stupid.

Plus CUSA could have three Owl teams. Temple and Kennesaw State would be begging to join at that point.

(07-25-2015 05:32 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

Quote:History of the Monarch
For many years, the athletic team of the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary (as Old Dominion was formerly called) were known as the Braves. This was a derivation of the William & Mary nickname, the Indians. As Old Dominion achieved its own four-year status and saw its enrollment surpass that of its Williamsburg neighbor, it was not longer suitable or acceptable to have its teams called the Braves.

The name Monarchs evokes much of the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and of Old Dominion's mother institution, the College of William & Mary. The nickname "Old Dominion" was first coined to the Virginia colony by King Charles II after Virginia's loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War. Furthermore, William III & Mary II, whose patronage helped found the College of William & Mary in Virginia in 1693, ruled England at the invitation of Parliament as "joint monarchs."

Source;
https://www.odu.edu/life/gettinginvolved...he-monarch

Monarch--a person who reigns over a kingdom or empire, King Charles II. Big Blue is a lion which is known as the King of the Forrest. So when you come to Norfolk, "Welcome to the Jungle".

(07-25-2015 06:46 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  "Golden Eagles" was voted upon by the student body in 1972. I assume it's a nod to the school colors of black and gold. I've never seen another reason given anywhere.

Is there really such a thing as a "Golden Eagle"? I've never heard of one that was golden.

Just kidding ya.

(07-26-2015 02:38 AM)Volkmar Wrote:  As said previously, it was a vote and Armadillo was initially actually the winner. The election was later declared void for reasons unknown to me, and Roadrunner subsequently won the 2nd time around. You can occasionally spot a Roadrunner on our campus too, which is pretty cool.

https://utsalibrariestopshelf.wordpress....oadrunner/

"Students indeed elected their own mascot, in the fall semester of 1977. According to an article in the October 1977 UTSA Bulletin entitled “Mascot Choices Bear Up,” students suggested approximately 50 possible mascots in September 1977 (the title references the suggestion of the bear as a possible mascot). The top nine suggestions–the armadillo, eagle, el conquistador, jaguar, puma, roadrunner, star, toro, and vaquero–were put to a vote in November 1977. The votes were tallied, and the top two contenders were announced: the armadillos and the stars.

¿Cómo?

There were arguments for both. Athletics Director Rudy Davalos had requested the star to be added to the ballot. “The star would be a good mascot for UTSA because Texas is the lone star state,” Davalos is quoted as saying in a November 4, 1977 press release. “The star is neither masculine nor feminine and equally can represent men and women athletes.” The press release states that former Student Representative Assembly member and “strong armadillo supporter” Bruce Garcia argued that “UTSA is located in the Texas hill country and needs a mascot symbolic of this area. The armadillo serves this purpose perfectly.”

Fortunately for the roadrunner, the election was subsequently declared void by the Student Representative Assembly and a new election was scheduled. The nine original candidates were included on the new ballot, with a write-in option. On November 23, with 1900 of UTSA’s 7350 students voting, the two new leaders were announced: the armadillo and the roadrunner. Students voted in a final election in December 1977, and on December 9, 1977, at a bonfire rally, the roadrunner was announced as UTSA’s first mascot."

I've always said, the best thing about UTSA is their school nickname. I really like "Roadrunners". But dang if "Armadillos" isn't a cool name too. You guys were going to be fine either way.

(07-26-2015 10:11 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 05:32 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

Quote:History of the Monarch
For many years, the athletic team of the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary (as Old Dominion was formerly called) were known as the Braves. This was a derivation of the William & Mary nickname, the Indians. As Old Dominion achieved its own four-year status and saw its enrollment surpass that of its Williamsburg neighbor, it was not longer suitable or acceptable to have its teams called the Braves.

The name Monarchs evokes much of the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and of Old Dominion's mother institution, the College of William & Mary. The nickname "Old Dominion" was first coined to the Virginia colony by King Charles II after Virginia's loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War. Furthermore, William III & Mary II, whose patronage helped found the College of William & Mary in Virginia in 1693, ruled England at the invitation of Parliament as "joint monarchs."

Source;
https://www.odu.edu/life/gettinginvolved...he-monarch

William and Mary is a wonderful historic college. It is the only institution outside of Texas I even considered attending.

Agreed. My best friend's son was a starting WR for William & Mary, and graduated just this year. It's a really fine school. It's the oldest public college in the United States.

Geez!!!! Big Green, Boogercats, GREEN GOBBLERS!!!!!! What in the big green hell were these people thinking?!?!?!?!?!?! Sounds like a really bad fetish porn movie...

In January 1978, a campuswide vote bestowed the nickname "Blazers" on the team, hoping that the teams would "blaze" a new trail in college athletics.

No doubt influenced some by the Trail Blazers' NBA title in 1977.

(07-27-2015 11:39 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 10:11 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 05:32 PM)ODUDrunkard13 Wrote:  

Quote:History of the Monarch
For many years, the athletic team of the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary (as Old Dominion was formerly called) were known as the Braves. This was a derivation of the William & Mary nickname, the Indians. As Old Dominion achieved its own four-year status and saw its enrollment surpass that of its Williamsburg neighbor, it was not longer suitable or acceptable to have its teams called the Braves.

The name Monarchs evokes much of the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia and of Old Dominion's mother institution, the College of William & Mary. The nickname "Old Dominion" was first coined to the Virginia colony by King Charles II after Virginia's loyalty to the crown during the English Civil War. Furthermore, William III & Mary II, whose patronage helped found the College of William & Mary in Virginia in 1693, ruled England at the invitation of Parliament as "joint monarchs."

Source;
https://www.odu.edu/life/gettinginvolved...he-monarch

William and Mary is a wonderful historic college. It is the only institution outside of Texas I even considered attending.

Agreed. My best friend's son was a starting WR for William & Mary, and graduated just this year. It's a really fine school. It's the oldest public college in the United States.

I've heard that W&M has not (and probably never will) drop College for University. As The College of William they are the oldest "college" in the US...as opposed to Harvard being the oldest University!

(07-27-2015 11:30 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 06:46 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  "Golden Eagles" was voted upon by the student body in 1972. I assume it's a nod to the school colors of black and gold. I've never seen another reason given anywhere.

Is there really such a thing as a "Golden Eagle"? I've never heard of one that was golden.

Just kidding ya.

Came across this in my meanderings;

"The most exotic sort of wolf hunting involves the use of eagles. It has been seen only
occasionally in Europe; its real home is Kirghizia, in south-central Russia. The specially
bred birds - a subspecies of golden eagles called a Berkut - are flown by nomadic tribesmen.
The birds weigh only ten or twelve pounds but can slam into a wolf's back and bind its nose
with such force that the wolf is almost paralyzed. Often the bird binds the spine with one
foot and, as the wolf turns its head to bite, binds its nose with the other foot, suffocating the
animal or holding it down until the hunter kills it. The birds are deceptively strong; there is
almost a ton of binding force in each foot and the blow of a thirty-six-inch wing can break
a man's arm....Kirghizian tribesmen still hunt wolves in Russia with Berkut, on horseback,
with the aid of dogs." -- Barry Holstun Lopez, Of Wolves and Men

That is one bad bird USM!

(07-26-2015 10:05 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 09:27 AM)SApuro Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 08:27 PM)davi78239 Wrote:  I just know we were almost the Armadillos before Roadrunners got the win .

Fightin' Armadillos would have been awesome!

I agree. UTSA should have gone with Armadillos.

As a UNT fan which mascot would you rather lose to?


lol, I just like building a good rivalry.

(07-30-2015 10:03 AM)Irish Rowdy Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 10:05 AM)Side Show Joe Wrote:  

(07-26-2015 09:27 AM)SApuro Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 08:27 PM)davi78239 Wrote:  I just know we were almost the Armadillos before Roadrunners got the win .

Fightin' Armadillos would have been awesome!

I agree. UTSA should have gone with Armadillos.

As a UNT fan which mascot would you rather lose to?


lol, I just like building a good rivalry.

I'm all for a good rivalry. Hope you make it up for the game.

(07-25-2015 08:27 PM)davi78239 Wrote:  I just know we were almost the Armadillos before Roadrunners got the win .

Enjoyed watching some UTSA fb and bb games last year. Yall have a bright future.
Have you ever seen a roadrunner kill and eat a rattlesnake?!? They are badazz.

(07-27-2015 11:30 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  

(07-25-2015 06:46 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  "Golden Eagles" was voted upon by the student body in 1972. I assume it's a nod to the school colors of black and gold. I've never seen another reason given anywhere.

Is there really such a thing as a "Golden Eagle"? I've never heard of one that was golden.

Just kidding ya.

Believe it or not there are and USM used to have a real one.. Story goes that the SGA president was in charge of feeding and watering it, and one SGA President decided to go out of town and left the chore to a friend of his. His friend forgot and the eagle died.. USM got in a heap of trouble over it.. Or that's the story I heard, it was before my time as a USM student.

But they're very real.. Here are a few pictures of Golden Eagles and in their natural habitat:

#2! Congrats Hilltoppers! You beat the Stanford Tree!

http://www.rantsports.com/clubhouse/2012.../#slide_30