What's In A Nickname?

There's A Story Behind Most Of Them

December 14, 1994|By Skip Myslenski, Tribune College Basketball Writer.

"What's in a name?" Bill Shakespeare once wondered.

"What's a Hoya?" many now wonder.

"In the days when all Georgetown students were required to study Greek and Latin," quoth the Georgetown press guide, "the University's teams were nicknamed `The Stonewalls.' A student, using Greek and Latin terms, started the cheer `Hoya Saxa,' which translates as `What Rocks!' The name proved popular and the term Hoyas was eventually adopted for all Georgetown teams."

There. That's what's in a name.

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"What's in a name?" Bill Shakespeare once wondered. "That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet."

Well. That may be true when it comes to flowers. But ol' Bill, whose credentials were impeccable, obviously never covered college basketball, where you find Orangemen, Gentlemen and Minutemen; Dukes, Monarchs and Governors; Colonels, Commodores and Cavaliers; Gauchos, Toreros and Matadors; Pirates, Paladins and Privateers; Rebels, Volunteers and Buccaneers; Miners, Mavericks and Mountaineers; Lumberjacks, Highlanders and Engineers; Crusaders, Explorers and Musketeers; Racers, Roadrunners and Red Raiders; Leopards, Cougars and Jaguars; Terriers, Greyhounds and Retrievers; Stags, Grizzlies and Dragons; Rattlers, Moccasins and Horned Frogs; Peacocks, Penguins and Razorbacks; Thunderbirds, Fighting Gamecocks and Fighting Gobblers; Demons, Devils and Quakers; Dons, Friars and Demon Deacons; and, at Stetson University, even some Hatters.

Those are some of the names Bill would have been bumped up against had he bothered to wander through hoop heaven. And then there are those others that truly tickle the imagination.

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"What's in a name?" Bill Shakespeare once wondered. Let's play the name game, and find out.

The Catamounts

Where we end up wishing the loser was the winner:

It was originally a teacher's college, and so Western Carolina's teams were known-naturally enough-as the Teachers. But then the school expanded its curriculum, and in 1933 decided it needed a new nickname as well. A campus-wide contest was held. The votes were counted. And, by the narrowest of margins, the Teachers became the Catamounts, a name that refers to any of the big cats (cougars, lynx, bobcats) that habitat the Southern Appalachian Mountains.

Edged out in this contest? The Mountain Boomers! And just what is a Mountain Boomer? A flying squirrel! Sigh. Talk of opportunities lost.

The Anteaters

Where we learn the value of reading:

When Cal-Irvine opened its doors in 1965, it too held a contest to find a nickname. A pair of its water polo players, comic strip freaks both, soon started campaigning for the Anteater, one of the regulars in Johnny Hart's "B.C." On election day, that mammal picked up 55.9 percent of the vote and simply swamped the other four candidates on the ballot.

And this story doesn't stop there. Another student, fella named Schuyler Hadley Bassett III, conscripted the Anteater's war cry of "Zot" and created a fraternity called Zeta Omega Ta.

The Boilermakers, Billikens and Fighting Leathernecks

Where we answer that burning question, "Did ya know?"

Did ya know that Boilermakers was a term of derision when Wabash College, an effete liberal arts school, hung it on Purdue, a school to be scorned since it was devoted to the practical arts of engineering and agriculture? That happened after Purdue walloped Wabash in football in 1889, a time when Purdue players were also called cornfield sailors, blacksmiths, pumpkin shuckers, hayseeds, farmers and rail splitters. Rumor also has it that a Purdue football team of this era used eight boilermakers from the Monon Railroad for a season.

Did ya know that the Billiken is nothing more than the creation of a Kansas City artist? He produced it in 1908 and received a patent for his design, which was soon purchased by the Billiken Co. of Chicago. It is uncertain just why St. Louis adopted this nickname, though it surely has something to do with former football coach John Bender. His team, in 1911, was known as Bender's Billikens.

Did ya know that Western Illinois, those Fighting Leathernecks, is the only non-military school to have a nickname attributed to a branch of the military service? It picked up this honor in 1927 thanks to Ray "Rock" Hanson, a marine in WWI and WWII who served the school as athletic director and baseball, basketball and football coach. Hanson, by the way, was also a close personal friend of Knute Rockne.

The Strange Crew

Where we see if we can match the nickname with the familiar name:

A. Chanticleers . . . . Half-lion, half-eagle

B. Phoenix . . . . . . Super-stud roosters

C. Golden Griffins . . Pure-breed dog

D. Terrapins . . . . . Ornery turtles

E. Salukis . . . . . . Mythological bird

The Kangaroos

Where we see a legend lending a helping hand: