Name-a-Day Calendar, April 22: Michigan Wolverines
Page 167 of 365
Chosen in: 1861, kinda
Chosen by: Nobody knows
Wolverines aren’t native to Michigan and never have been. So why are Michigan’s sports teams called the Wolverines?
…do you know? Cuz I don’t. And it seems like nobody has ever confirmed the true reason for the moniker despite it being used for the university’s entire intercollegiate athletic history. Of course, there are a few theories.
The most popular theory comes from the Toledo War of 1835 and 1836. The legend has it that, in this most deadly of conflicts,1 Ohioans referred to Michiganders as “wolverines” on account of their stubbornness, for wolverines were apparently known for being stubborn. Michigan lost the war, but they adopted the “wolverine” epithet as a badge of honor. The state became nicknamed The Wolverine State, and the university in turn called their teams the Wolverines.
Another theory — suggested in a 1944 issue of Michigan Quarterly by Fielding H. Yost, who coached Michigan’s football team from 1901-19262 and served as their athletic director from 1921-1940 — is that the nickname came from the fur trades ubiquitous in northern North America in colonial times. Evidently, the trading post in Sault Ste. Marie saw several real wolverine pelt exchanges, leading some traders to call them “Michigan wolverines”. This led to the state’s nickname and then the university’s.
The final theory also comes from Michigan Quarterly, this one by Albert Marckwardt in 1952: the French who originally settled in Michigan had big, “wolverine-like” appetites, which led to the nickname of both the state and the team.
No matter how they got there, Michigan has been the Wolverines for well over a century. They don’t currently have a mascot, as their athletic department considers the practice “undignified and unnecessary”, but they’ve had a few mascots in the past, a practice that originally began because…they were envious of Wisconsin.
Previous page: Miami (OH) RedHawks
Next page: Michigan State Spartans
Find every page at the Name-a-Day Calendar hub!
Nobody died in the Toledo War. One Michigander was wounded.
Except for in 1924, when assistant George Little coached the team