Name-a-Day Calendar, September 19: ULM Warhawks
Page 317 of 365
Chosen in: 2006
Chosen by: A mascot committee via an online poll
The school currently known as the University of Louisiana at Monroe was originally founded as the two-year Ouachita Parish Junior College in 1931, beginning intercollegiate athletics the same year and calling its teams the Indians.
Throughout the years, the school evolved, changing its academic identity every now and then, but never its athletics brand: through stints as the Northeast Center of Louisiana State University, Northeast Junior College of Louisiana State University, Northeast Louisiana State College, Northeast Louisiana University, and finally (and currently) the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM), the sports teams were always known as the Indians. Their mascot was a cartoonish, costumed Native American representation known as Chief Brave Spirit.1 The community, students and faculty alike, often called their campus “the reservation”.
Then the NCAA made them knock it off. Their 2005 ruling that unsanctioned Native American nicknames, mascots, and imagery were punishable by postseason ban affected ULM’s “Indians” nickname. The university originally tried to fight this, replacing the costumed Chief Brave Spirit with a live human in the same role in an effort to display that their usage of the identity was inoffensive. But the NCAA didn’t budge, so the university sought to alter the sole branding element that had been in place since its founding 74 years earlier.
On January 30, 2006, ULM began the process of finding a new identity. They let the community do most of the work, soliciting nicknames through an online poll. Then, they put together a mascot committee to sift through the suggestions and eventually decide on a winner through process of elimination.
First, they announced 12 semifinalists, seven of which included the word “bayou”: Aviators, Bayou Bandits, Bayou Bruins, Bayou Buccaneers, Bayou Gators, Bayou Hawks, Bayou Raiders, Bayou Storm, Marauders, Thunder, Thunderbirds, and Warhawks. Two other possibilities, “Hawks” and “Storm”, were dropped due to trademark concerns. From this prolonged list emerged three finalists: Bayou Gators, Bayou Hawks, and Warhawks. And from there, they finally selected the winner: Warhawks.
The nickname itself is an homage to northeastern Louisiana’s own Maj. Gen. Claire Chennault, who during World War II led the American Volunteer Group of pilots. That group flew Curtiss P-40 Warhawk planes in battle.
Playing off this, ULM designed their mascot as an actual hawk who’s also a pilot. His name is Ace.
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Longtime readers might remember that this is the mascot who got into a fight with Northwestern State’s Vic the Demon in 1992.