Appalachian History

When the NCAA Tournament tips off, you may know every team's star player and its odds to win the title. But how well do you know the mascots? Not just what the teams are called, but where those names came from? Let's take a look at some of the tourney's more unusual nicknames.

East Tennessee State Buccaneers: It wasn't until 1935 that ETSU athletic teams were referred to as the "Buccaneers;" previous teams were called "The Teachers." The school was known as the East Tennessee State Teachers College in 1925, shortened to State Teachers College, Johnson City in 1930. Coach Gene McMurray was credited with coming up with the name 'Buccaneers' in 1935.

"The Teachers sounds too innocent and academic, and they wanted more of a fighting name," says author Robert J. Higgs, professor emeritus of English from ETSU.

An English professor and coach at that time, Willis Beeler Bible, had an objection to the name. Bible believed that pirates had an unsavory reputation. The name stuck despite the disagreement.

"'Bull' Bible joked about the name buccaneers and said it sounded like a bunch of bandits," Higgs said.

The Buccaneer is a fine mascot for a coastal school, but ETSU is decidedly landlocked. What gives? A group of spelunkers found an underground river in the university area, known as Pirate Creek. The creek runs throughout subterranean tunnels in a southeasterly direction. Geologists theorize that Pirate Creek could have led to the Atlantic Ocean.

Local legend holds that Pirate's Creek was once home to pirate Jean Paul LeBucque (LeBuc), who had fled from the coast to hide his treasure. Thus, an inland school has a pirate mascot.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Wake's teams originally called themselves the Tigers, but that name didn't stick. People started referring to the squads as "the Baptists" due to the school's religious affiliation, and when the football team beat arch-rival Trinity (which would later become Duke) in 1923, student newspaper editor Mayon Parker dubbed them the "Demon Deacons" to honor both their Baptist affiliations and their 'devilish' play. Henry Belk, Wake Forest's news director, liked the title and used it often, so the popularity of the term grew.

The actual mascot made its first appearance in 1941. As the "Demon Deacon" terminology became more popular, Jack Baldwin (1943 Wake Forest graduate) took the first step and became the first in the long line of Deacon mascots.

"Some of my fraternity brothers and I were just sitting around one evening," Baldwin recalls, "and came to the agreement that what Wake Forest needed was someone dressed like a deacon -- top hat, tails, a black umbrella and all that. We wanted him to be more dignified than other mascots, sort of like an old Baptist Deacon would dress."

West Virginia Mountaineers: WVU's 'Daily Athenaeum' reports that individuals served as the Mountaineer as early as 1927, when Clay Crouse was chosen. However, it was not until 1934-35 when trackster Lawson Hill served that a more stable selection process was established. Starting in 1937, the Mountaineer was appointed annually by the Mountain Honorary - the school's prestigious senior honorary.

The Mountaineer mascot first appeared at WVU sporting events during the 1936-37 school year. Boyd H. "Slim" Arnold, a physical education major from Bayard in Grant County, was the first Mountaineer selected to serve three years in succession (1937-38-39) and was the longest tenured until Rock Wilson equaled it in 1993. (1991-92-93).

During Arnold's tenure, he became the first Mountaineer to wear the now traditional buckskin uniform. Minutes of Mountain meetings from the late 1930s indicate that a donor gave the Honorary several deerskins asking that a buckskin costume be made for the Mountaineer. Prior to that the Mountaineer wore overalls, a flannel shirt, coonskin cap, a sheep or bear skin type vest and carried a rifle.

The Mountaineer's costume is tailored to fit each winner, and male Mountaineers customarily grow beards during their tenure to go along with the coonskin cap and rifle.

The rifle is a true flintlock that requires the user to become schooled in the amount of powder required to fire the charge.

UT Chattanooga Mocs: The school's athletic teams are called the Mocs. Taking the name from Moccasin Bend in the Tennessee River, UTC adopted a water moccasin as its mascot in the 1920s.

Along the way the school changed the mascot to a Cherokee tribesman: Chief Chattamoc, and in the 60s & 70s a moccasin shoe served as UTC's mascot. In the late 70s the mascot returned to a Cherokee tribesman, this time Chief Mocanooga.

The Chattanooga InterTribal Association criticized UTC for using the mascot, because they believed Native Americans were portrayed in an unfavorable manner. Chief Mocanooga wore feathers and warpaint, and the association and other Native Americans said Southeastern Indians were not warriors.

The university assembled a 17-panel committee to discuss the issue and come to a decision. UTC adopted a new mascot in the '96­-'97 school year – Scrappy.

The name came from A.C. "Scrappy" Moore (a former football coach.) Scrappy is a mockingbird (Tennessee's state bird) and dresses as a railroad conductor. The school's main athletic logo features Scrappy riding a train (a reference to Chattanooga's history as a major railroad hub and to the song "Chattanooga Choo Choo".)


Sources: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/23743
http://www.utc.edu/About/History.php
http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?section=9614
http://wakeforestsports.cstv.com/genrel/100808aab.html http://www.etsujournalist.com/article/Journalism/Campus_Connections/Why_we_are_the_Buccaneers/18422



sports+in+Appalachia NCAA+championship+teams appalachian+sports appalachia +appalachian+history

On April 2, 1931, world famous New York Yankees sluggers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were struck out by a 17 year old female pitcher named Virnett 'Jackie' Mitchell in Chattanooga, TN.

"I don't know what's going to happen if they begin to let women in baseball," grumbled Ruth off-field. "Of course, they will never make good. Why? Because they are too delicate. It would kill them to play ball every day."

Joe Engel, owner of the Southern Association's AA Chattanooga Lookouts, had recently signed Mitchell after spotting her in a baseball camp in Georgia. Engel, a former big league player who scouted for the Washington Senators after his playing days, was known for his innovative, entertaining, and often zany promotional stunts.

The local papers were full of stories about the first woman to ever play in the minor leagues, though Jackie Mitchell was actually the second woman to sign a minor-league contract. In 1898, Lizzie Arlington played one game, pitching for Reading (PA) against Allentown.

The Yankees had stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game that day, on their way home from spring training down south. Major league teams often traveled the country playing against members of their minor league's farm system. This gave the locals an opportunity to see big league players in towns that did not boast big league franchises. It also kept the players in off-season shape - both in body and mind. Billed as a huge event due to the appearance of "Murderers Row" ---Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Tony Lazzeri--- the game brought out a crowd of 4,000, including scores of reporters, wire services, and even a newsreel camera.

Manager Bert Niehoff started the game with Clyde Barfoot, but after Barfoot gave up a double and a single, the manager signaled for Jackie Mitchell. The rookie southpaw took the mound wearing a baggy white uniform that had been custom-made by the Spalding Company. The first batter she faced was Ruth.

Jackie, a left-hander, only had one pitch, a wicked, dropping curve ball. Ruth took ball one, and then swung at -- and missed -- the next two pitches. Jackie's fourth pitch caught the corner of the plate, the umpire called it a strike, and Babe Ruth "kicked the dirt, called the umpire a few dirty names, gave his bat a wild heave, and stomped out to the Yank's dugout."

The next batter was Lou Gehrig. He stepped up to the plate and swung at the first sinker -- strike one! He swung twice more, hitting nothing but air. Jackie Mitchell had fanned the "Sultan of Swat" AND the "Iron Horse," back-to-back.

After a standing ovation that lasted several minutes, Jackie pitched to Tony Lazzeri, who drew a walk. At that point, Niehoff pulled her and put Barfoot back in. The Yankees won the game 14-4.

The 17-year old had squared off against three future Hall of Famers, striking out two of them. The next day, one newspaper would speculate that "maybe her curves were too much for them."

But a few days after the exhibition game, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis voided Jackie Mitchell's contract, claiming that baseball was "too strenuous" for a woman.

Crushed and disappointed, Jackie began barnstorming, traveling across the country pitching in exhibition games. In 1933, when she was 19, she signed on with the House of David, a men's team famous for their very long hair and long beards. She traveled with them until 1937, but eventually got tired of the sideshow aspects of barnstorming -- like playing an inning while riding a donkey.

At the age of 23, she retired and went to work in her father's optometry office, although she continued to play with local teams from time to time. Forty-five years later, in 1982, the 68-year-old Jackie threw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Chattanooga Lookouts on opening day.

sources: www.baseball-almanac.com/articles/aubrecht8.shtml
http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070215&content_id=280&vkey=hof_news
www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/mitchell.html


Chattanooga+Lookouts appalachian+sports Jackie+Mitchell New+York+Yankees Babe+Ruth Lou+Gehrig appalachia appalachian+history appalachian+mountains+history