Name-a-Day Calendar, April 19: Merrimack Warriors

Page 164 of 365

Chosen in: 1949

Chosen by: College president the Very Rev. Vincent A. McQuade

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Merrimack College was founded in 1947 by the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cushing, who installed the Very Reverend Vincent A. McQuade as the school’s first president. Merrimack began playing sports almost immediately and its teams have always been known as the Warriors thanks to the Very Rev. McQuade himself, who in 1949 wrote that the warrior has “the indomitable spirit of a noble individual dedicated to overcoming obstacles and aspiring to achieve all that is possible”.

At some point, this nickname spawned a Native American logo that, as far as I can tell, was not very prominent and does not appear to have been the inspiration for any offensive mascots. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, logos like this were deemed socially unacceptable, so the college began the process of changing it. They sought input from several thousand students and alumni, who came to the general consensus that the logo should probably go but the Warriors nickname should stay because it originally had nothing to do with Native Americans.

Merrimack replaced the Native American logo with a Roman warrior helmet in 2003, though that logo is also not very prominent and is often ignored in favor of the block MC. In any case, it does explain why their mascot is a Roman warrior. His name is Mack.

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