HOW THE "AZTECS" CAME TO BE
(from the official athletic site)

After the athletic teams were established in 1921, media referred to the teams as "Staters" or "professors". The school newspaper tried to encourage "Wampus Cats" during its coverage of the 1923-24 school year. In the fall of 1924, Athletic Director C.E. Peterson urged the students to select a nickname and the school newspaper, The Paper Lantern, invited suggestions. Over the next few issues, names such as Panthers, Balboans and Thoroughbreds were suggested and submitted to a committee of Dean Al Peterson, C.E. Peterson and a student. In 1925, student leaders chose the nickname "Aztecs" over such other suggestions as "Balboans". They felt the terminology was more representative of a southwest image and the selection met with no dissent. In February of 1925, President Hardy gave his formal approval to the "Aztec" nickname and teams adopted that iden***y within a week.

-JD

Wow, I never knew that. Thanks for sharing! <img border="0" alt="[Cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/cheers.gif" />

These "Why [whatever mascot]" threads are pretty interesting and insightful, especially when you are a fan of a team and never ever realized where you mascot is derived from.

JD, could you do one for Duke?

I'm glad to be an AZTEC, not a BALBOAN! Balboan??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" />

Ha, ha, I like these "Instant Graemlins".

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by jerryaztec:
I'm glad to be an AZTEC, not a BALBOAN! Balboan??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" />

Ha, ha, I like these "Instant Graemlins".</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">JD, can you hook us up with what a balboan is? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />