Name-a-Day Calendar, February 13: Georgia Southern Eagles
Page 99 of 365
Chosen in: 1959
Chosen by: Student body vote
What is now Georgia Southern University was founded as an ag school in 1908 but quickly shifted to become a teachers college in 1924. At the same time, they started a football team that became known as the Blue Tide; the origin of this nickname has been lost to time. Other sports teams would follow, also known as the Blue Tide. Then the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
Georgia Teachers College, as it was then named, put all their sports programs on hiatus as many of their men went to fight in World War II. When they came back, every program except football was revived, but the “Blue Tide” nickname was not. As a nod to the school’s specialization, administration named the resuscitated teams the Professors.
The teachers college would expand to include other disciplines in 1959, drawing another nickname change. This time, the athletics department let the students submit nicknames to be selected in a student body vote. The top two choices were “Eagles” and “Colonels”, with the former winning by a narrow margin and giving us the Georgia Southern Eagles identity that still exists today.
Georgia Southern has a live bald eagle mascot named Freedom, who — let them tell ya — is way better than some stinkin’ bulldog.
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