Name-a-Day Calendar, May 14: New Mexico State Aggies
Page 189 of 365
Chosen in: The 1890s
Chosen by: The school, most likely
The school we now know as New Mexico State University was established as the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, or New Mexico A&M for short, in 1889. It began classes in 1890 and intercollegiate athletics in 1893. As with many agricultural schools, New Mexico A&M first called its teams the Aggies. But, whereas many such schools eventually switched to a different nickname, New Mexico A&M simply didn’t; they’ve never gone by any other moniker.
New Mexico A&M would become New Mexico State University in 1960, making that the year we first got the “New Mexico State Aggies”.
More interesting than New Mexico State’s nickname is their mascot. In the 1950s or ‘60s (it’s not clear which), the school reached an agreement with Oklahoma State University to license their iconic(?) “Pistol Pete” logo, which Oklahoma State introduced in the 1920s. New Mexico State paid royalties to Oklahoma State, slightly refactored the logo, and renamed it Classic Aggie.
In 2005, New Mexico State wanted to clean their image a little and move away from gun-brandishing imagery, so they introduced a modernized version of Classic Aggie that instead wielded a lasso; they named him Lasso Larry. The community hated this logo and wanted their gunslinger back, and it didn’t take long for the university to cave: they debuted a modernized, gun-carrying Classic Aggie in 2006.
When Lasso Larry was born in 2005, New Mexico State stopped paying royalties to Oklahoma State, as the original Pistol Pete was no longer a direct inspiration for their logo and they would no longer be violating Oklahoma State’s trademark. But the original Classic Aggie did still appear on some officially licensed retro merchandise. Oklahoma State eventually caught wind of this and sued New Mexico State in federal court in October 2014, a move that caught New Mexico State off guard.
The two neighboring State schools settled out of court. New Mexico State is now heavily limited in how they’re allowed to use the original Classic Aggie, but it turned out all Oklahoma State wanted was $10/year.
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