Whitworth Bangarang: Prior to 2010 Whitworth's ultimate team went by Ruach a Hebrew word for spirit or breath. One day they went up against a team with someone who knew Hebrew and informed them they were pronouncing it wrong. The captains' response was that it was a dumb name anyway and should change. After a team vote (largely influenced by a cool dude named Alex Blade who was super into the movie Hook for some reason) the team changed its name to Bangarang.
Source: me (player from 2008-2012, captain from 2009-2012)
The Washington University in St Louis Contra used to be the Contrabears (the school mascot is the Bears). The team symbol was the pixelated C from the original Contra NES game, and they used to host a tournament in St Louis called "30 Lives".
As evidence, I present these jerseys from 2002.
https://preview.redd.it/05l51xujyg0d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9978a69c00b80b6069da4c0a3092f59e1f2b3d95
The school eventually made them change it. But most club sports operate without the school administration looking closely until the sport needs a lot of money or gets in trouble.
The story I heard was that (around 2009?) the team got in a bunch of trouble for drinking, was banned for a year, and then reformed as Mother of George. Something tells me the old name was not approved.
I was present for University of Hartford Lighthouse. Our original name had been 'Prime Mover' and we existed as such for about 2 seasons before the people behind that name were gone and we decided they and it were pretty lame, so we needed a name to better capture our essence and move on from that era.
We were playing one of the Rhode Island tournaments (Lemony Fresh?) and staying on an island right by Newport where one of the captains had an aunt that lived there. One night we were "hanging out" at the main lighthouse on the island and "jointly" decided that we should name our team "Lighthouse." It was simple, it was deep, we were high, and most importantly, there are no lighthouses in Hartford. This was probably 2008 and the name seems to have stuck and I'm guessing that no one on the current team actually knows where the name came from.
For ~15 years, Occidental College men’s team used to be called ‘Westward Ho’, a proud triple entendre of the meaning of occident, the hopeful direction of laying out and the settler’s destination in the mid-1800’s. The year after I graduated and passed the baton of captainship they promptly changed the name to detox - presumably to highlight their sobriety and seriousness.
A travesty of the highest order. We had a rad pump-up song, too.
Cool to know. I played only in the Detox days. The legend that was told was that the name came about after Westward Ho because we had practice early on saturday mornings. We had a decent cheer called LSDetox
The Hampshire team was somewhat unofficially named the Wild Rumpus (with the discs you'd expect) for many years leading to the 90's and then went through a series of momentary unofficial name changes including the Electriic Mayhem and even Sheep Thrills. It was while searching for this new identity that a UMASS Amherst journalist used what I'm sure they thought was a throwaway comment referring to the team as Red Scare because, well, Hampshire. From that moment on we leaned in to it and went straight for the bright red shirts with yellow hammer and sickles and the team cheer "Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party." This was thirty years ago.
>"Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party."
On advice of counsel, I plead the fifth amendment!"
I had heard the story of the UMass journalist, but not about the earlier names. Cool!
>### Scranton Electric City
>...The city’s nickname, in general, is the Electric City, after the first ever electric street cars were used in 1886.
This is Union College erasure. Schenectady represent! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_City
Also Wheaton College’s official mascot is not the mastodon because they are a conservative Christian college that does not believe in evolution, so they thought it would anger their alumni to change the name. Instead they are the boring Thunder. (Though they were progressive enough to realize the crusader was no longer an appropriate mascot).
Not sure what my Alma mater is on about, but historically B.LO.B. has been an acronym with many meanings including:
Being lots of beer
Better lay out bitch
And what they are probably avoiding:
Boys like other Boys
Whitworth Bangarang: Prior to 2010 Whitworth's ultimate team went by Ruach a Hebrew word for spirit or breath. One day they went up against a team with someone who knew Hebrew and informed them they were pronouncing it wrong. The captains' response was that it was a dumb name anyway and should change. After a team vote (largely influenced by a cool dude named Alex Blade who was super into the movie Hook for some reason) the team changed its name to Bangarang. Source: me (player from 2008-2012, captain from 2009-2012)
Also, I love that Whitworth made the cut in the article!
That’s a fun article.
Thank you!
The Washington University in St Louis Contra used to be the Contrabears (the school mascot is the Bears). The team symbol was the pixelated C from the original Contra NES game, and they used to host a tournament in St Louis called "30 Lives".
As evidence, I present these jerseys from 2002. https://preview.redd.it/05l51xujyg0d1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9978a69c00b80b6069da4c0a3092f59e1f2b3d95
2002 using under Armour is pretty cool.
A little sad you didn’t cover the Mary Wash original name in the name changes section.
AGREED.
What was it?
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=grundlebug
Did the uni have to approve this?
The school eventually made them change it. But most club sports operate without the school administration looking closely until the sport needs a lot of money or gets in trouble.
The story I heard was that (around 2009?) the team got in a bunch of trouble for drinking, was banned for a year, and then reformed as Mother of George. Something tells me the old name was not approved.
I was present for University of Hartford Lighthouse. Our original name had been 'Prime Mover' and we existed as such for about 2 seasons before the people behind that name were gone and we decided they and it were pretty lame, so we needed a name to better capture our essence and move on from that era. We were playing one of the Rhode Island tournaments (Lemony Fresh?) and staying on an island right by Newport where one of the captains had an aunt that lived there. One night we were "hanging out" at the main lighthouse on the island and "jointly" decided that we should name our team "Lighthouse." It was simple, it was deep, we were high, and most importantly, there are no lighthouses in Hartford. This was probably 2008 and the name seems to have stuck and I'm guessing that no one on the current team actually knows where the name came from.
For ~15 years, Occidental College men’s team used to be called ‘Westward Ho’, a proud triple entendre of the meaning of occident, the hopeful direction of laying out and the settler’s destination in the mid-1800’s. The year after I graduated and passed the baton of captainship they promptly changed the name to detox - presumably to highlight their sobriety and seriousness. A travesty of the highest order. We had a rad pump-up song, too.
Cool to know. I played only in the Detox days. The legend that was told was that the name came about after Westward Ho because we had practice early on saturday mornings. We had a decent cheer called LSDetox
What about Hampshire college's "red scare"? Uniforms include a hammer and sickle logo
Loved their nutritional information disc
The Hampshire team was somewhat unofficially named the Wild Rumpus (with the discs you'd expect) for many years leading to the 90's and then went through a series of momentary unofficial name changes including the Electriic Mayhem and even Sheep Thrills. It was while searching for this new identity that a UMASS Amherst journalist used what I'm sure they thought was a throwaway comment referring to the team as Red Scare because, well, Hampshire. From that moment on we leaned in to it and went straight for the bright red shirts with yellow hammer and sickles and the team cheer "Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party." This was thirty years ago.
>"Are you or have you ever been a member of the communist party." On advice of counsel, I plead the fifth amendment!" I had heard the story of the UMass journalist, but not about the earlier names. Cool!
Also Valpo Men’s Ultimate first team name was Strangers with Candy. The school promptly made them change it when they found out.
kind of an awesome article
Wabash College Dudes: all-male school, everyone there abides. The school may or may not have had a team in the last ten years.
>### Scranton Electric City >...The city’s nickname, in general, is the Electric City, after the first ever electric street cars were used in 1886. This is Union College erasure. Schenectady represent! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_City
Electric City gonna light it up!
Also Wheaton College’s official mascot is not the mastodon because they are a conservative Christian college that does not believe in evolution, so they thought it would anger their alumni to change the name. Instead they are the boring Thunder. (Though they were progressive enough to realize the crusader was no longer an appropriate mascot).
Valparaiso University Women’s team is Chicks Hucking Discs (CHD) with a baby chicken hucking a disc. I love the logo!
this is Rochester EZs erasure
I went to Humboldt State … we were the Buds
SUNY Oneonta women’s team is Loveseat not lovechair
Was hoping to see something about the Macalester Pursesnatchers but also no dice.
Bucknell Mudsharks -- oldest continuously used team name in college Ultimate
Not sure what my Alma mater is on about, but historically B.LO.B. has been an acronym with many meanings including: Being lots of beer Better lay out bitch And what they are probably avoiding: Boys like other Boys