Name-a-Day Calendar, January 1: Colorado State Rams
Page 56 of 365
Chosen in: 1945
Chosen by: Student body vote
Colorado State University has its roots as an ag school; it was founded as Colorado Agricultural College in 1870 before rebranding as the Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (or Colorado A&M) in 1935. As such, the first nickname for their sports teams was “Aggies”.
By 1945, the school wanted a bona fide mascot rather than just a nickname, so the student newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian, held a contest to select one. In late January and early February, students sent their suggestions to Student Council for approval. The accepted names would be sent to a final vote at a schoolwide assembly on February 9. The three that made the cut were “Bucks”, “Mustangs”, and the eventual winner “Rams”. The February 16 Collegian article that announced the winning mascot didn’t mention who suggested it, only stating that the students picked “Rams” because it “packed the most punch”.1
At the January 11, 1946, men’s basketball game against Denver, the school debuted a live ram named…“Buck”. That name was quickly deemed unsatisfactory and in 1953 the Collegian held another contest to pick a better one. The winner of that contest, revealed at the February 5, 1954, men’s basketball game against Wyoming, was “CAM”: the initials for Colorado A&M. The Collegian didn’t mention who submitted this name either, but the school still uses it today despite rebranding as Colorado State University just three years after it was chosen.
Every Colorado State source I can find about CAM incorrectly lists his birthday as February 6, presumably because they think that was the date of the game at which he was introduced. In reality, the school’s men’s basketball media guide says the game took place on February 5 and the Collegian article that announced the name — which was published on Friday, February 12 — says the game occurred “last Friday”. They might wanna look into correcting this!
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It’s also worth noting that the official name was “Aggie Rams”, but the shortened “Rams” was used more frequently from the jump; that very February 16 Collegian issue included sports recaps that referred to the teams as simply the “Rams”.