Name-a-Day Calendar, January 24: Eastern Washington Eagles
Page 79 of 365
Chosen in: 1973
Chosen by: A reluctant student body vote
Hoo boy, where do we even begin with this one?
The beginning is as good a place as any, I suppose. The State Normal School at Cheney began playing intercollegiate sports right around the turn of the 20th century, but they wouldn’t get a mascot until a couple decades later.
The State Normal School Journal held a mascot competition in the Fall 1923 semester that garnered over 200 entries, which a committee was tasked with narrowing down to a select few for a final vote. In the end, eight names made the cut: Apaches, Golden Eagles, Greyhounds, Lions, Panthers, Pirates, Savages, and Vikings.
The student body met on November 8, 1923, to pick a name from these eight. No consensus ended up being formed at this meeting, but some names were eliminated. “Golden Eagles” was cut because it was apparently too similar to the new Washington State mascot “Cougars”, which…no? What?1 In addition, student Leta Bostwick voiced opposition to “Savages”, concerned that the women would be called a certain “Native American woman” slur that I’m not going to print. Her concern was heeded and the name was thrown out.
Until it wasn’t. Apparently, most of the student body really liked “Savages”, so they got it put back on the menu and propelled it all the way to the final vote. And it won! In a landslide victory, it beat the other Native American name, “Apaches”, which should tell you where the students’ minds were in 1923. I guess Bostwick was ahead of her time.
That time would come in May 1972 when, in cooperation with local Native American tribes, the Board of Trustees at what had since been renamed Eastern Washington State College started the process of retiring and replacing their “Savages” branding. The student body, who’d been dressing up as Native American stereotypes and performing offensive chants for the past half-century, weren’t just about to give those traditions up without a fight. When the Board of Trustees asked them to come up with a new nickname in October 1972, they basically just threw a fit. After gathering nickname suggestions, they took the incumbent “Savages” nickname and threw it into a final vote with two other Native American nicknames: “Braves” and “Appaloosas”.
As you might expect, “Savages” won this vote handily. The students thought they’d pulled a fast one on the school administration, but the Board of Trustees simply refused to validate the results and tasked a committee of their own choosing to find a new mascot. Until then, the team would have no name, and — as such — in the Spring 1973 semester, they were semi-officially called the “No Names”.
The name the committee decided on was “Lakers”, which surprised many because there are no lakes on Eastern Washington’s campus or for miles in any direction. In fact, this name was so nonsensical that the Board of Trustees rejected it outright and gave the students another crack at picking a mascot for themselves. But this time there was a caveat: all suggestions would be vetted by the mascot committee before being sent to a vote.
This last vote happened in July 1973 and the winner, finally, was “Eagles”.
Some controversy surrounding the old nickname continues to pop up every now and then, but it’s mostly a thing of the past. These days, people usually just get mad at Eastern Washington for painting their football field red.
Previous page: Eastern Michigan Eagles
Next page: Elon Phoenix
Find every page at the Name-a-Day Calendar hub!
This is even funnier given what the nickname is today.