Name-a-Day Calendar, June 30: Queens Royals

Page 236 of 365

Chosen in: 1988

Chosen by: Student body vote

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The school currently known as Queens University of Charlotte has its origins as a Presbyterian girls’ school beginning all the way back in 1857. With the brief exception of the G.I. Bill-induced education boom in the aftermath of World War II, men were not admitted to Queens until 1987. As far as I can tell, intercollegiate athletics did not factor into the equation at this school until after it became coeducational.

Queens began playing at the NCAA Division II level in 1989.¹ In preparation, university president Dr. Billy O. Wireman in 1988 formed a committee of faculty and staff to solicit student mascot and nickname suggestions. The committee received several suggestions and narrowed them down to three: Knights, Royals, and Sting. The school held a student body vote on these three suggestions, but I cannot find any information on which nickname won this initial round of voting.

That’s because, almost immediately after this vote, Dr. Wiseman and athletic director Dale Layer held an assembly to get more feedback from students and solicit a few more nickname suggestions. This solicitation resulted in two more finalists: Bees and Griffins. The student body voted again, this time between these two and the original three finalists. The results: “Royals” won, “Sting” placed second, and “Griffins” placed third. I could find no information on who originally submitted any of these proposed nicknames to the committee.

Dr. Wiseman’s committee commissioned an artist to think up possible mascots for the “Royals” nickname. One of this artist’s mockups was of a lion, as the lion is the primary symbol of English royalty. The committee almost unanimously agreed that the lion should be the mascot, and so it was.

Queens is represented by a costumed lion mascot named Rex, but they’re more famous for their 27-foot lion statue, which they claim to be the largest lion statue in the world.

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1. They moved up to Division I in 2022.