Name-a-Day Calendar, July 15: Saint Peter’s Peacocks
Page 251 of 365
Chosen in: 1930
Chosen by: School dean Father Roger Gannon
Saint Peter’s College1 was founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus. The school closed in September 1918 because its enrollment had been decimated during World War I, and despite the war ending just two months later, the Jesuits didn’t reopen the school until 1930.
When Saint Peter’s reopened, Father Robert Gannon was installed as dean. That same year, Fr. Gannon selected the peacock as his school’s mascot. For centuries, the peacock has been seen as a symbol of rebirth on account of its physical resemblance to the mythological phoenix that rose from the ashes. As Saint Peter’s had just been reborn after a 12-year death, Fr. Gannon figured this was appropriate.
But that’s not all: the peacock also had an etymological connection to the school’s location in Jersey City. When the Dutch originally settled the Northeastern United States in the 1620s and ‘30s, they gave control of what is now Hudson County, New Jersey, to a man by the name of Michael Pauw, who originally named the region after a Latinization of his own name: Pavonia. Both the Dutch “Pauw” and the Latin “Pavonia” translate to English as “Peacock”.
The Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team began play in the 1930-31 season, the same year the school was reborn. They’ve always been known as the Peacocks, along with all of the school’s other men’s teams. The women’s teams were at some point primarily known as the Peahens, but this practice appears to be largely a thing of the past and today’s women’s teams are usually called the male nickname.
Today, a costumed peacock named Peter represents Saint Peter’s. Like the rest of the university, he became famous in 2022 following the men’s basketball team’s improbable run to the Elite Eight.
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Gained university status in 2012