We’ve all heard of popular mascots, such as those Bulldogs from Georgia, Kentucky Wildcats, and the Texas Longhorns. Although these examples symbolize big college sports and tradition, their names are, well, ordinary.
How many Bulldogs, Tigers, and variations of ‘Cats can there be?
So, I’ve endlessly searched the wonderful world wide web and have dug up 10 unique mascot names that you may not have heard of. I’ve represented Divisions I-III in this list.
Rose-Hulman Tech Fightin’ Engineers: I wonder if their mascot is a dancing T-Square.
Webster University Gorloks (pictured above): I don’t know about you, but it looks like Mufasa from the Lion King with a shirt on.
Academy of Art Urban Knights: What is an Urban Knight? My first thought is Batman or something.
Sweet Briar College Vixens (college for women): I don’t know how good their teams are, but something about their mascot makes me want to get season tickets.
Whittier College Poets: Nothing strikes more fear in an opponent than those vicious Poets! Hey, they say the pen is mightier than the sword.
Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns: My favorite mascot name of all time. Creativity at its best.
University of Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans: Their sporting events must look like mini Star Trek conventions. What's up Spock!
UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs: Hey, you just have to love this mascot name.
Heidelberg College Student Princes: I’m good with Princes. But Student Princes sounds like they could kill their opponents in a game of problem solving instead of basketball.
Brooklyn College Bridges: I picked this one because it is unique. I didn’t say they were all creative. When choosing this name, a person must've just looked outside and said, “I got it…Bridges…all right, let’s go to lunch.”
Well, there’s my list. Do any of you have any creative mascot names to add to the list?
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2 months ago
How about the Mary Baldwin College "Fighting Squirrels" and the New York University "Fighting Violets" or what about the Worcester Industrial Tech "Designers"
--I guess putting the name "fighting" in front of Squirrels and Violets makes them intimidating. And the designers? That's queer as a two dollar bill.
from 2 months ago
I used to play fighting violets when I was just a little girl. You take two violets and hook their flowers together in the hook shape stem just behind their heads and pull until one bloom pops off. It's fun, try it.
2 months ago
The Evergreen State college geoducks. it is a clam or something
Scottsdale Community College fighting Artichokes
Delta State University Fighting Okra also maybe the statesman
North Carolina School of the Arts The Fighting Pickle
from 2 months ago
Yes, thanks for mentioning the Geoducks of Evergreen, my alma mater! Siphon high, squirt it out...lyrics from the fight song.
2 months ago
The thrillingly named MIT Engineers
Harvard Crimson
Purdue Boilermakers
2 months ago
This was my kind of article. Thanks for writing it.
2 months ago
I appreciate all of your comments. The Fighting Okra, that's great. Brian, I like the Fighting Squirrels. I compiled a list of about 50 schools with crazy mascots, but had to narrow it down. There was also Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters, Immaculata Mighty Macs, and the Whitman College Fightin' Missionairies to name a few more. Seems like the smaller, lesser known schools have the best mascots, in my opinion. They just don't have the pub.
2 months ago
Interesting article Michael.
I know this is for college, but a high school in Montgomery, AL also has the name "Poets" - Sidney Lanier High School "Poets" to be exact
and the Tampa Bay Rays farm club in Montgomery, AL is named the Montgomery Biscuits
2 months ago
im with you i love the rajin' cajuns
2 months ago
the univeristy of arkansas monticello cotton blossoms, southern arkansas muleriders, univ. of west florida argonauts
from 2 months ago
Don't forget about the Tufts University Jumbos!
2 months ago
Those are awful names. What about the slugs for that Cal extension team? That's terrible also. Why would anyone make their mascot an Okra? An okra is not insprirational.
You know among bigtime programs the Purdue Boilermakers and the Alabama Crimson Tide are as strange as any. Think about it, Purdue could make a case that they produce engineers who know how to make boilers and machinery but that's really a stretch isn't is? Maybe some type of bird or animal would have been better but, certainly not more memorable.
Crimson Tide is because.....? The uniforms are red and they come at you in waves? Or what? I appreciate Alabama history as much as anyone but I like Red Elephants better. Back in the old glory days of Alabama football in the 60s and 70s there used to be a fan who put a box of Tide, the laundry detergent, on a stick and he came to every televised game. He was always holding that stick of Tide up in the air on television.
from 2 months ago
Dude, stop hating!!!! Just having fun with this.
from 2 months ago
Some Bama fans still come to games with the Tide on a stick thing
from 2 months ago
You forgot the roll of toilet paper at the top of the Tide box. You know...the cheer...Roll Tide. The toilet paper and Tide box were akin to people holding up a D and a section of a picket fence for Defense (or a light switch in the off position and a section of a picket fence for Offense).
2 months ago
Good article. I've done one on unoriginal college team names like you mentioned in the begenning.
Off the top of my head, a few unique ones, but maybe not as unique as yours. You usually have to dig below Div I to find those unique names, so here are a few that quickly come to mind.
Western Kentucky Hill Toppers
TCU Horned Frogs
St. Louis Bilikens (what is a biliken? It looks like the grench.)
2 months ago
Now I know. Thank you wikipedia. This is what a billiken is:
The Billiken was a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Ms. Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream. In 1908 she patented the Billiken who was elf-like with pointed ears, a mischievous smile, and a tuft a hair on his pointed head
2 months ago
I went to Anderson University, home of the Ravens. This doesn't sound so bad, but we used to be the Tigers. We went from being one of the wild kingdom's greatest predators to a scavenger bird.
Anyway, great take on the whole mascot trend.
2 months ago
urban knight??
wasn't that a martin lawrence movie????
from 2 months ago
might have been. I know he had a movie with the word "knight" in it. I think it was Black Knight, but I didn't catch that one.
2 months ago
I had friends that went to US Santa Cruz. All they did was surf and smoke weed.
What a bunch of Banana Slugs!
from 2 months ago
hey they have the beach. How can you not be "relaxed".
2 months ago
In recently learned about one school's former mascot that was somewhat in the same vein of the "Brooklyn Bridges."
San Francisco State's mascot is currently the Gators. But when they first established their mascot, they were the "Golden Gaters," as in Golden Gate Bridge. Their mascot was still represented by an alligator, but spelled in a way that represented their locale. I thought that was both clever and unique. Too bad they got rid of it.
2 months ago
Absolute worst - Long Beach State "Dirtbags". Really. Look it up.
from 2 months ago
i love that name, i just wouldn't want to introduce myself as a "Dirtbag" if people didn't know what it meant.
from 2 months ago
LBSU (or Cal State Long Beach) is actually nicknamed the 49ers. The name 'Dirtbags' refers to the baseball team and is an informal nickname (if that makes sense).
It's like when the Nebraska U. football team refers to their defense as the Black Shirts or when the Pittsburgh Sttelers called their defense the Iron Curtain.
2 months ago
Thanks to being a sports writer for Chapman University (NCAA DIII), I had the opportunity to encounter some god-awful mascots. Our alleged "rival" was the UCSC Banana Slugs (we always got a kick out of that) but the absolute worst was the Whittier College (Richard Nixon's alma mater) "Poets"
Special mention to the UC Irvine Anteaters. How threatening is that supposed to be?
2 months ago
I know we're dealing with college teams here but I have to put in what I consider to be the best mascot name I have ever encountered. Poca High School in Poca, WV has a big red dot for their mascot. Honest to goodness they are known as the "Poca Dots".
from 2 months ago
Wow...If I had known about that one, I would've included it on the list.
2 months ago
Amusing list...
The other one that comes to mind is the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens. Oh, I'm so scared of that angry blue chicken! Ahhh!
from 2 months ago
A few that I left off that were pretty wimpy were the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats, Arkansas Tech Wonderboys, and the Centenary Gentleman and Ladies.
2 months ago
The Oglethorpe "Stormy Petrels" isn't so great, once informed that a petrel is a bird that throws up on its attackers when threatened.
2 months ago
When I hear "Urban Knight"....I think of Suge Knight
Also Vixen is another name for a female fox or wolf as well as one of Santa's reindeer....so it's not that far off from a mainstream name (lady wolves or lady foxes). Definately unique and cool, with the added fun of being considered a swear word in some parts of the English speaking world
I like Ragin Cajuns too...for some reason I think alcohol is involved:)
btw Richard Nixon played football for Whittier so they've got at least one well known football player
2 months ago
Nice list! I too am big fans of the Rajin' Cajuns and I own a Banana Slug t-shirt. Those are great names.
2 months ago
nice list! was a fun read!5 stars indeed!
2 months ago
Uh, what about the Rhode Island School of Design Nads?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_School_of_Design
2 months ago
i like the picture for the rajin' cajuns better than the actual name. i'm pretty sure it's a craw fish with boxing gloves on. also, the north texas mean green. "those colors look angry, don't mess with them"
2 months ago
the bridges??? hahaha nice
2 months ago
A high school near my hometown was a private Mennonite school. They didn't officially have a school mascot or team name but they did refer to themselves as the Fighting Menonites. (If you don't know what a mennonite is, think Amish but with electricy and running water)
Also a minor league hockey team in Makon Georgia was the Whoopee (Makon Whoopee).
The name doesn't really bother me but the actual mascot always has. Iowa State Cyclones has a big red bird for a mascot. WTF?!?
2 months ago
My cousin went to Freeport (IL) High School. They were the Freeport Pretzels. Intimidating, for sure.
2 months ago
How about the Washburn State Ichabods?
2 months ago
How about the Washburn State Ichabods?
2 months ago
New Bedford (Mass.) High School Whalers.
2 months ago
I think it's a travesty that Hofstra changed "Flying Dutchmen" to "Pride"! Was there an outcry from New York's Dutch population?
2 months ago
I heard of a college somewhere which is the "crimson tide". Hmmmmmm......
2 months ago
Wake Forest (I think) are "The Demon Deacons"
and Presbyterian College has "Blue Hose."
Lol.
2 months ago
Funny article. Nice job.
2 months ago
I work for a summer college baseball team called the Delaware Cows aka The Battling Bovine...
http://www.delawarecows.com/
2 months ago
Don't think anyone mentioned the Wichita State Shockers.... although the nickname is intended to be a wheat shocker... people who buy the hats have the other shocker in mind.. if you know what I mean.
from 2 months ago
A 'Shocker' is an anthropromorphic bundle of wheat.
Before you harvested wheat with combines, wheat was bundled up into 'shocks'. The people who did the work cutting and bundling wheat were the actual 'wheat shockers'. Early in the school's history (over 100 yrs. ago) many of the students earned money by shocking wheat.
The idea of a farm worker as a mascot was not inspiring, so a fierce bundle of wheat with arms and legs along with a mean scowl was created by Wilbur Elsea in the late 1940s and the mascot was named WuShock.
2 months ago
Vulcan is a fire god... it's a reference to Hawi'i's volcanoes.
Student Princes, though? Wow... just wow.
from 2 months ago
Didn't know that's what they were referring to. Thanks for the info.
2 months ago
Woohoo! My school (Brooklyn College) made the article! Brooklyn College represent!
2 months ago
Bridges is sweet haha
2 months ago
U. Central Missouri Mules and Delaware Fightin' Hens are the next best I can think of. Ichabods is pretty good though...we have a rival high school here in Western MO. called the Archie Whirlwinds. Real scary. It's going to give me a bad hair day if I get too close to it lol!
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