Name-a-Day Calendar, July 10: Sacred Heart Pioneers
Page 246 of 365
Chosen in: 1963, took effect in 1964
Chosen by: The Student Government via student body vote
Sacred Heart University was established in 1963 and its student body almost immediately began efforts to select a nickname. In the very first issue of The Obelisk student newspaper,1 published on October 24, 1963, the Student Government implored students to submit nickname suggestions for a student body vote. They also provided a few suggestions of their own: Bombers, Cavaliers, Centurions, Cobblers, Crusaders, Eagles, Gladiators, Hawks, Pioneers, Red Devils, Red Hawks, Red Knights, Red Lancers, Red Raiders, and that one racial slur the Washington NFL team used to use.
You might be able to guess that Sacred Heart’s school color is red, but they didn’t end up choosing a nickname that referred to it. In the election on November 4, 1963, the students chose “Pioneers”. This was deemed a fitting nickname because Sacred Heart was the first Catholic university in the United States founded by people outside of the clergy (making them the laity, or “laypeople”).
Weirdly, common usage of this nickname seems to have been delayed until 1964. When the school’s men’s basketball team first took the court in winter 1964, The Obelisk most often referred to them as the Hearts. This was fixed beginning in the 1964-65 academic year.
Sacred Heart’s mascot is a costumed pioneer named Big Red. He wears pioneer garb from colonial times, apparently unaware that that isn’t his origin story.
Previous page: Sacramento State Hornets
Next page: Saint Francis Red Flash
Find every page at the Name-a-Day Calendar hub!
This newspaper was discontinued in 1982. In 1983, The Spectrum, which still operates today, replaced it.