Name-a-Day Calendar, July 31: South Dakota Coyotes
Page 267 of 365
Chosen in: 1902
Chosen by: The editors of the Coyote yearbook
The University of South Dakota (USD) was originally authorized in 1862, but classes didn’t begin until 1882 due to a lack of funding. If you know your American history, you’ll recognize that both of these events came before South Dakota became a concrete place with recognized boundaries; this all occurred in the far southern reaches of the old Dakota Territory.
Anyway, between the school’s founding and its actual opening came a horse race that would eventually give the new school its mascot. At Fort Randall in October 1863, two soldiers from Company A of the Dakota Cavalry enlisted their horse in a friendly race with that of a major in the 6th Iowa Cavalry. The Dakota Cavalry horse won in a landslide, causing one Iowa soldier to remark that it “ran like a coyote”. This retort spread quickly, and the “coyote” moniker spread to all members of the Dakota Cavalry and then to all residents of the southern Dakota Territory.
Classes at USD finally began in 1882, then the territory was split into two states in 18891 and the school began playing football the same year. This team originally played without an official nickname, and they’d continue to do so until the editors of USD’s first yearbook took it upon themselves to coin one in 1902. They named that inaugural issue Coyote2 and referred to their school’s team as the Coyotes. Other print sources gradually followed suit.
South Dakota is represented by a costumed mascot named Charlie Coyote. Check out his hit single.
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P.S. It’s pronounced “KI-otes”. Two syllables, not three.
President Benjamin Harrison signed both North and South Dakota’s statehood papers at the same time. He never revealed which state’s he signed first but also he definitely signed South Dakota’s first.
This yearbook is no longer being produced.