Sports Mascots

What They Are

The term mascot is often used interchangeably with the terms nickname and logo. However, the terms do have distinct meanings. A mascot is a tangible object, usually a person or an animal, that is adopted by a school, college, or other organization to represent its athletic teams. The person or animal that serves as a mascot is often seen on the sideline or in the stands at athletic events and pep rallies. A nickname is simply the name that is used to represent an athletic team, and a logo is a picture or a symbol that represents the team.

School and college mascots and nicknames often go beyond identification of an athletic team. For better or worse, mascots often become the identification of the entire school or institution, not just of its athletic teams. It is via a mascot or a nickname that current students, past students, prospective students, and others outside the academic community sometimes view the school. With the attention that athletics receives in the media, a mascot or nickname is often the most common identification outsiders have with a particular school.

Derivation of Names

The origin of high school and college mascots and/or nicknames is often an interesting story, although it is sometimes difficult to trace. Some school or college archives do provide a detailed account of how a nickname was chosen. The history behind the nicknames of some schools, however, is not very clear. Thus, officials and supporters of some schools and colleges can only speculate as to how their school's nickname was chosen, and the origin will forever remain a legend.

Some school and college mascots have been in existence for more than a century. Many high school nicknames have historic meaning to their town or community. Likewise, some college nicknames have meaning to the community, region, or state. Some nicknames speak to an institution's heritage, or mission, such as the nickname “Aggies” at some agricultural and mechanical (A&M) colleges or land-grant universities.

Maintaining a symbolic connection between an institution and its state is often especially important for public universities that are the flagship institutions for their state. As such, several state flagship (or secondary flagship) institutions' athletic nicknames resemble or match the state's nickname. Table 1 lists examples of such institutions that adopted their state's official or unofficial nickname as their own.

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