What’s in a name?
In search for nickname, VU can take cue from Northwest Indiana high schools with good ones
We all should be tired of bad nicknames.
I’m not talking about only thoughtless, insensitive, tone-deaf nicknames, but also any nickname for a school or a professional team that has no discernible relationship to the entity to which it refers.
I mean names like the Tigers and the Lions and the Cougars and the Warriors, as well as the Indians, that exist in a seemingly endless supply.
Here is a thought.
If your school has one of the above nicknames, it needs to find a clever nickname unless it’s full of Tigers or Lions or Cougars.
And if it can’t, then just bag the nickname.
It’s better to have no nickname than an irrelevant nickname, I say.
Go with Portage or Lake Central or West Side.
Then a hard stop.
I’m not opposed to animal nicknames. I’m opposed to anything that doesn’t really make sense.
This brings me to the Crusaders nickname that Valparaiso University just dropped.
It was the right move. Words matter. And there was no inherent connection between VU and Crusaders, which was a replacement for Uhlan in 1942.
The Uhlan was a Germanic cavalry soldier. The Crusades, which are connected with the Crusaders, were a series of religious wars initiated by Christians against Muslims to establish Christianity as a “superior” religion. A lot of people died. It wasn’t good.
There are plenty of great nicknames in Northwest Indiana.
Let’s focus on the good ones. This could be inspiration for VU’s nickname search.
Here are a few.
The 59ers: This was absolutely ingenious. Andrean became a high school in 1959, and it’s address is 5959 Broadway in Merrillville. According to Andrean baseball coach Dave Pishkur, there is an unconfirmed rumor that there were a total of 59 priests and nuns on staff when the school started. One drawback to the 59ers nickname is Andrean doesn’t really have a mascot. Also, Pishkur said his teams have been called the 49ers in games downstate.
The Brickies: Hobart has the best combination of mascot — Yohan Petrovich, a Popeye-looking figure who is dressed in purple and gold and whose physique was developed by working in the brickyards, according to the school’s website — and nickname. Yohan Petrovich was in
vented by a student, George Zupko, in 1942, according to the website.
The Slicers: LaPorte got its cool nickname because there was a knife factory in
town.
The Oilers: With arguably one of the greatest nicknames in sports, Whiting High School is in a city that’s been home to a refinery since 1889. That seems to be the origin of Whiting’s nickname. However, another possibility, according to the Whiting-Robertsdale Historical Society, is that it came from the “oilers” who changed the lubricant on trains. The city was the hub for three connecting tracks, the Calumet Terminal. The school’s mascot is a human oil can, which still roams the sidelines of football games.
Kougars: Kankakee Valley’s nickname is selfexplanatory. The mascot is a cougar. It’s unclear who came up with the Kougars— nickname, but whoever did really got it. If you’re going with an animal, make sure there’s a twist.
Ingots: Northwest Indiana is the heart of steelmaking country, and an ingot is a block of metal. River Forest’s mascot is a shiny, medallion-shaped piece of metal. Great nickname.
Digressing, Lake Central should dump its “Indians” nickname and go with “Tri-Towners” since Schererville, Dyer and St. John all feed into the school. The Pop Warner football team already has that name. It would be an easy fix for a bad nickname.
The Gladiators, Pioneers and Governors are great nicknames for Gavit, Clark and Morton, respectively. Too bad Gavit and Clark will be gone next school year. But long live their nicknames.
There has been a lot of grieving from the traditionalists about the loss of “Crusaders.” They view it as something that represents a fighting spirit, which is a secondary definition of the word.
It’s a fair enough point. But in 80 years, no one will care as long as VU gets it right this time.