Samething happened at Marquette University in Milwaukee Wi. They were the Warriors. Mascot was a characterized indian known as Willie Wampum.
Then some squaw got her undies in a knot and willie was replaced with the “first warrior” a kid in a indian costume like you’d see at any cheap tourist roadside indian store.
But that wasn’t enough for the undie knotted squaws. So soon the team became the “gold” and then shortly thereafter (because teh powers that be FINALLY figured out that calling a team a color was pretty lame) they became the flapping turkeys (or golden eagles or some other such thing that has no connection to university history at all).
I’ve not followed them nor supported them since. Whenever I get fundraising calls I always ask when they are changing the name back to “Warriors”. They give me some mealy mouthed excuse and I tell them to call back when the university returns to being the proud place it once was.
Good one, John. And Marquette hasn’t done squat since changing to Flapping Turkeys, Barking Seals, Braying Dogs, or whatever it is. I used to live and die by them as a kid when Al McGuire coached there. No more. Same with the Stanford Indians and all their name changes.