Name-a-Day Calendar, April 6: Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Page 151 of 365

Chosen in: 1926

Chosen by: Football fans

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Happy birthday to The Low Major contributor Leah!

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Loyola University Chicago is well known for their rather unique nickname, but if old head football coach Roger Kiley had his way, they’d be known for a completely different unique nickname.

Loyola Chicago’s first sports teams were known simply by their school colors: Maroon and Gold. But, in 1925, third-year football coach Roger Kiley ostensibly grew tired of coaching a team with no nickname, so he partnered with the Loyola News student newspaper to hold a schoolwide nickname contest.

The winner of this contest was “Grandees”, and if you don’t know what a grandee is, don’t worry; I didn’t either before I wrote this piece. A grandee is a noble rank that only exists in Spain and is wedged above the duke and below the prince in the pecking order. This nickname was submitted as a nod to Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (more commonly known as the Jesuits), who hailed from Spain.

Despite being chosen in an official capacity, “Grandees” never truly caught on and was scrapped in mere months. But Coach Kiley wouldn’t have to wait too long for a new nickname; in fact, his team would earn it themselves. The 1926 football team traveled quite a lot for a program of their stature in the early 20th century, playing road games at Loyola New Orleans, Ole Miss, and Saint Louis, and a neutral site game against Haskell in Kansas City. Fans described this travel as “rambling from place to place” and started calling the team the Ramblers. The school cut football in 1930, but by then, the nickname had stuck. Loyola Chicago is currently the only collegiate sporting outfit in the United States with the “Ramblers” nickname.

How do you create a mascot for such a turn of phrase? Evidently, the school didn’t even try for over half a century. Loyola Chicago’s first regular mascot — a costumed homeless man — wasn’t formally introduced until 1982. His name was Bo Rambler, short for Hobo, and he rambled the sidelines for eight years until university administration figured it was probably bad optics for their school to be associated with the unhoused. In 1990, they replaced him with a costumed wolf named LU Wolf, who still exists today. And he’s not a wolf for no reason; wolves were prominently featured on Ignatius of Loyola’s family crest.

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