Name-a-Day Calendar, March 18: Kansas State Wildcats
Page 132 of 365
Chosen in: 1915, then again in 1920
Chosen by: Head football coach Chief Bender, then head football coach Charlie Bachman
What is now Kansas State University began as an agricultural school in 1863 and began playing football in 1896. Owing to their primary focus, the football team was first known as the Aggies. In 1915, Kansas State poached head football coach John Reinhold “Chief” Bender from Washington State. Bender wanted his team’s nickname to pack more of a punch, so he renamed them the Wildcats in honor of their “fighting spirit”.
Bender left for Tennessee the next year and the school replaced him with Zora G. Clevenger, who abandoned the Wildcats nickname for his four-year stint as head coach. But when Charlie Bachman took the reins in 1920, he brought the nickname back and it’s stuck ever since.
Kansas State has a costumed mascot named Willie the Wildcat. They like him, but they’re biased.
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