Name-a-Day Calendar, May 22: North Carolina A&T Aggies

Page 197 of 365

Chosen in: 1901

Chosen by: School administration

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Today, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is the largest HBCU in the United States,¹ offering bachelors, master’s, and doctorate degrees in a wide variety of disciplines. But in 1891, the school was just getting its start as North Carolina’s “colored” ag school: the Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race.

The school began playing football in 1901 and, owing to their ag roots, administration nicknamed the team the Aggies. This has remained the nickname to the present day.

That’s pretty boring. More interesting is why their mascot is a bulldog. It comes from an all-too familiar feeling for every sports fan: extreme outrage at an official.

As the story goes, a 1926 football game against Virginia State was rigged for money (or ratings; I’m not sure which). Every time A&T’s fullback broke through the Virginia State line and punched the ball in for a touchdown, the referee called it back. This continued until the very end of the game, but when the referee called one last touchdown back (or perhaps incorrectly called a field goal no good; accounts differ), the crowd decided they’d had enough. In these days, a live bulldog commonly sat on the Aggie sideline during game action. Someone unleashed the bulldog and sicced it on the ref, whom it badly maimed.

From then on, the bulldog was the official mascot of North Carolina A&T. And, believe it or not, accounts from the time have confirmed that this story is more or less true, though some say that the bulldog was not sicced but instead jumped at the referee because it thought its master was in danger as the ref argued with the crowd. This stunt almost got A&T kicked out of their conference.

Today, North Carolina A&T has two costumed bulldog mascots: Aggie Dog and Aggietha.

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1. North Carolina A&T enrolls about 14,000 students, with Howard coming in second at about 12,000. Prairie View A&M and Florida A&M also have at least 10,000 students.