Name-a-Day Calendar, February 9: George Mason Patriots
Page 95 of 365
Chosen in: 1968
Chosen by: Staff of The Gunston Ledger student newspaper
In 1949, the University of Virginia founded an extension center just outside Fairfax to serve Northern Virginia. This center proved immediately popular, so it quickly expanded to support several thousand students. By 1959, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors thought this rapidly expanding university college should have its own identity, so they named it after George Mason, a Founding Father who spent more or less his entire life in Fairfax County.1
Then came sports. By most accounts, George Mason College began playing intercollegiate sports in 1966. To christen the athletics program, the school held a student body vote to select a nickname, and the winner was “Marauders”. But this wasn’t universally accepted and, while the teams were officially the Marauders, some called them other names, including “Chargers” and “Trojans”.
This quickly became annoying, so it didn’t take long for someone to put a stop to it. In 1968, The Gunston Ledger student newspaper2 began ignoring every other nickname and referring to George Mason sports teams only as the Patriots, almost certainly in honor of the school’s namesake. And that’s what they’ve been for 55 years.
George Mason would break away from the University of Virginia to become the independent George Mason University in 1972. They’re now the largest public university in Virginia and they’ve got a Final Four to their name.
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This is a very pared-down account of the school’s early history. A lot of other stuff happened but it has nothing to do with the story.
This newspaper still exists but is now known as Broadside.