Name-a-Day Calendar, March 21: Kentucky Wildcats

Page 135 of 365

Chosen in: 1909

Chosen by: Commandant Phillip W. Corbusier, head of the military department

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The origin of Kentucky’s “Wildcats” nickname is the most Big Ten thing ever to come out of the SEC.

On October 9, 1909, the Blue and White football team of what was then known simply as State University traveled up to Champaign to take on Illinois. They won the game 6-2, leading me to believe that head coach Edwin Sweetland is likely a direct ancestor of Kirk Ferentz.

After the game, fans attended a chapel service, and at this service, Commandant Phillip W. Corbusier, the head of the military department, apparently told some students that the team “fought like wildcats”. The nickname stuck.

Kentucky has two costumed mascots: one named Scratch and another simply known as The Wildcat.

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