Name-a-Day Calendar, September 12: UC San Diego Tritons

Page 310 of 365

Chosen in: 1964

Chosen by: Student body vote

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Here’s a quick lesson in Greek mythological family trees. You’re undoubtedly familiar with Poseidon, the God of the Sea. At some point, he got with a nymph named Amphitrite and they had a son named Triton, who was a merman and a demigod.

So that’s what (or, more correctly, who) a Triton is. But why is it UC San Diego (UCSD)’s mascot? Well, UCSD officially opened as a graduate school in 1960, but the Scripps Institution of Oceanography had existed in its place since 1903 and had been part of the University of California system since 1912. When UCSD was upgraded to a general campus with an undergraduate curriculum in 1964, Scripps remained its center point.

Thus, when the student body voted to select a mascot on December 12, 1964, the mythological, oceanic suggestion of “Tritons” won, beating out other suggestions including “Barracudas”, “Dolphins”, “Grizzly Bears”, and “Hornets”. Unfortunately, the identity of the person who suggested “Tritons” as UCSD’s mascot appears to have been lost to time.

Today, UCSD’s mascot is King Triton: a costumed…Poseidon? What? That’s not Triton. Why is he humanoid and not a merman? Whatever. I didn’t go there.

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