Name-a-Day Calendar, May 8: Navy Midshipmen

Page 183 of 365

Chosen in: 1879, technically

Chosen by: The United States Navy

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The term “midshipman” has its origins in the 17th century. It was originally used to refer to a seaman stationed “amidships”, a word commonly used to refer to the middle of the ship either front-to-back or side-to-side. In the decades that followed, the term expanded into use by the Royal Navy, first in reference to apprentice officers, then in reference to the lowest ranked cadet officers.

Once the United States gained their independence, they formed their own Navy in 1794, and the “midshipman” term followed a similar linguistic trajectory. When the United States Naval Academy was founded in 1845, its training students became known as midshipmen. This has remained true for most of the institution’s history, and when the academy began playing football in 1879, referring to the team simply as the Midshipmen was prudent and convenient.

This does not explain why Navy’s mascot is a goat, so let me tell that story too. Livestock of all kinds, including goats, have long been taken aboard Navy ships to provide mariners an easy source of food, milk, and often companionship. The legend has it that sometime early in Navy’s football history (in some unconfirmed year), a beloved pet goat died at sea and the seamen wanted to get its skin taxidermied and mounted.

Two cadets were charged with doing this, so they left for the taxidermy office once the ship docked, but evidently, en route from ship to office was an ongoing Navy football game. The students stopped by the game, goat head in hand because they had nowhere to put it. At halftime, one of them put the goat head over his own human head and ran down the sidelines for laughs. The crowd loved it, Navy won the game, and a mascot was born. In 1893, Navy would bring a real live goat to their rivalry game against Army, thereby making it official.

The Army-Navy rivalry, one of the most storied in college sports, also extends to the sidelines, as each institution’s students have traditionally tried to steal the other’s mascot before their annual football game. This has gone wrong a lot.

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