Name-a-Day Calendar, December 21: Charleston Cougars
Page 45 of 365
Chosen in: 1970
Chosen by: Two rounds of student body voting, kind of
Sports teams at the College of Charleston were originally known as the Maroons, as maroon has always been one of their school colors. The students hated it. According to alumnus Remley Campbell ‘71 in Vince Benigni’s book True Maroon: An Illustrated History of Athletics at the College of Charleston, it was a really easy name to mock; rivals often called them the “Morons” or the “Macaroons”.
In 1970, the school sought to rebrand. They came up with ten possible nicknames and sent them to the student body for a vote, but no clear winner emerged, so they ran a runoff between the top two vote-getters: “Colonials” and “Cougars”. About three miles away at the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site, the animal forest1 had recently procured an Eastern Cougar,2 which quickly became a local favorite. This was reflected in the campus’ attitude toward “Cougars” as a possible new nickname; it was the talk of the town and, by the time the runoff voting was completed, it was so obvious that “Cougars” was the pick that the school made it official without even counting the votes.
The College of Charleston has been proud to be the Cougars ever since. Well, except for an April Fools joke a few years ago.
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This is what the park calls their zoo. It’s set up to be more immersive than a standard zoo.
Also known as a Carolina Cougar