Name-a-Day Calendar, July 23: Seattle Redhawks

Page 259 of 365

Chosen in: 2000

Chosen by: The university’s cabinet of vice presidents via a faculty committee

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The school we now know as Seattle University began as a Jesuit parish school in 1891. The Immaculate Conception Parish School, as it was called, became Seattle College just seven years later and finally gained university status in 1948.

Unusually for this series, I cannot pinpoint exactly when intercollegiate athletics began at this school. The archive of their student newspaper, The Spectator, only goes back to January 1933. The men’s basketball team had debuted by then, but all 1933 issues of the paper discuss the sport like it’s a new endeavor for the school, so I’m left to assume the sport took off sometime in the early ‘30s.

The first teams used no nickname, but by 1936, The Spectator usually referred to the team as the Maroons, after the school’s color at the time. This was soon deemed unacceptable because rivals kept calling them the “Macaroons”,¹ and the November 11, 1936, issue of The Spectator saw sports manager E. L. “Doc” Schweitzer solicit suggestions for a new nickname. Schweitzer offered the winner of this contest a “cross-state basketball trip … to Spokane, British Columbia, or Portland”.²

Suggestions were due on November 20, but in the November 25 Spectator followed an editorial that basically poo-pooed the entire contest. In its entirey:

“Maroon IS a fine color! And the Spectator has come to realize that maybe it’s not such a feeble emblem either.
“For two months now, that traditional title has withstood the fire of those who, either having forgotten or having never known the joy and pride there was in cheering or playing under that beloved flag, would have us strike our colors and do battle under a strange and lusterless banner.
“The Spectator refuses longer to be a party to this junking of tradition! We will not withdraw our offer of a cross-state trip for a new name.
“We do not believe another suitable name can be found!
“We do believe that we must stand loyal to the name and colors now so rich with the spirit and devotion of those who struggled under it and built this college!”

Jeez. Undeterred by this show of faith, rivals continued calling Seattle’s teams the Macaroons. The Spectator, in a January 20, 1937, article stating that “Maroons” would remain the nickname for the remainder of the season, noted that they were just as upset by this as everyone else, but that they didn’t feel a midseason switch was prudent.³

But try telling that to assistant sports editor Ed Donohoe, who—in the same issue—started calling the team the “Clippers” out of nowhere and with no explanation.

Then all hell broke loose. In the next Spectator on February 4, professor of sociology Father M. A. Meagher “laid down on the table unquenchable arguments” of why the teams should actually be called the Chiefs.

“First: Fr. Meagher selected ‘Chiefs’ because the Queen City⁴ was named after an Indian Chief, Seatle. [sic] The Chamber of Commerce would not object to such a title: in fact, they would embrace it fonldy. [sic]
“Second: If Chiefs was selected then the annual could be named the ‘Chieftain’ and an Indian motif could be worked throughout the pages.”
“Third: The sports writers of the Metropolitan newspapers would take to a name like Chiefs because [of] such angles as ‘the Chiefs of S. C. scalp Portland U’, or ‘massacre is enacted in College Gym as the Chiefs win again’.”⁵

Sports editors liked this, too, so in this February 4 issue, Seattle’s teams were called the Maroons, the Chiefs, and the Clippers completely interchangeably. This continued in the February 17 issue, with passages such as “The Maroon (Asst. sports editor Donohoe chimes in emphatically, Clippers or Chiefs) will encounter Centralia Junior College, Thursday, February 18.” and “The Chiefs, Maroons, or Clippers will make their headquarters at either the New Heathman Hotel or the Governor hotel”.

The March 3 issue gave us this amazing sequence:

Keep in mind that all of these refer to the same team.

And then the basketball season was over, so the issue was just tabled. The baseball team was still called the Maroons for the remainder of the spring.

When classes resumed in the fall, the school wanted a do-over. Student body president Ed McCullough appointed a committee that November to choose a new nickname, like, for real this time. They solicited more student suggestions but made it clear that the final choice would be left up to the committee.

Ed Donohoe, the assistant sports editor who started the fire the previous spring, was on this committee, and it was his suggestion that ended up currying the most favor among fellow committee members. On January 21, 1938, The Spectator announced that Seattle’s teams would henceforth be known as the Chieftains. The nickname was simply better than Maroons. Just ask the dictionary:

“Who can deny the superiority of ‘Chieftains’ over ‘Maroons’? From Mr. Webster’s colossal volume we give you the following excerpts:
“Chieftain; Highest in rank or authority, principal, most distinguished, influential, valuable, greatest, one who is specially eminent, esteemed, efficient, or active.
“Compare this noble definition with that of the alternate name, Maroons; to put ashore, and abandon, as on a desolate coast, one who is amrooned, a dull-red color, a coal-tar dye stuff, a negro living wild in the mountains of some West India islands, a maroner.⁶
“Even one of the most dense mentality can see that the first is the acme of everything a team name should be, and that the other is the lowest form of assininity.” [sic]

I’m not touching that one.

A cartoon of a Native American appeared in this column, serving as the inspiration for more Native American imagery and mascots over the years as the “Chieftains” nickname became further entrenched in the culture of the college.

This went on with little opposition until the late 1990s, when local Native American tribes began to express their discomfort with Native American nicknames and imagery being used to represent Seattle University. Unlike many other universities in a similar situation, Seattle surrendered this position almost immediately and of their own accord. In 1999, their president, Rev. Stephen Sundborg, appointed a faculty committee to select a new mascot.

The committee considered several options before whittling them down to ten semifinalists to send to the university’s cabinet of vice presidents. Little by little, the cabinet eliminated more possibilities⁷ before arriving at three finalists—Rainiers, Redhawks, and Red Wolves—and choosing the middle one: Redhawks. Administration announced this pick on January 6, 2000, and it’s remained in place ever since.

A costumed redhawk mascot, Rudy, debuted in 2001.

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1. Not joking

2. This prize was seemingly only open to men. The three-paragraph article sees fit to mention that a “suitable” prize should be awarded should a “fair co-ed” win. 1936, y’all.

3. We also learned some of the suggestions from the contest thanks to this article: Billy-goats, Chinooks, Commodores, Gnus, Tadpoles, Seagulls.

4. Charlotte is still the Queen City but nice try.

5. 1937, y’all

6. Alternate spelling of “mariner”

7. Some rejected suggestions: Chinooks (again), Riptide, Storm