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July 10, 2007
Fort Wayne, IN - The editors at SPMSportpage.com have searched far and wide within the NCAA Division I ranks to find the greatest mascot names in the nation. After countless hours of research and debate, IPFW has landed in the 26th spot on their Top 100 list. The Mastodons are nestled in between the Tulane University "Green Wave" at No. 27 and the Maryland "Terrapins" at No. 25. Larry Nauss, Assistant Editor at SMSSportspage.com, provided the following analysis of the Mastodons: The Mastodon, an elephant-like beast (only larger) was indigenous to the area now known as the southern Great Lakes region over 10,000 years ago. While digging on his property in 1968, an Angola, IN farmer named Orcie Roustsong uncovered a very large bone. He knew it was too large to belong to a horse or cow, so he called Jack Sunderman of the IPFW geosciences department. Roustsong's farm became an archaeological dig site, which unearthed about two-thirds of a mastodon's skeletal remains and the skull of a baby mastodon. Most of those remains are still on display at IPFW. In 1970, the IPFW student newspaper "The Communicator" began a drive for the student body to pick a mascot. Choices included Boiler-Hoosiers (a combination of Purdue's and Indiana's nicknames, see Nos. 43 and 18 herein), Warhawks, Marauders, Hobbits and Frontiersmen. Steve Pettyjohn, IPFW student body president (1968-69), penned a letter to the editor promoting the Mastodon. "Let's have the courage to be a little different," he wrote. During the following academic year, the school Geology Club convinced Mark Souder, then student body president and current U.S. congressman from Indiana, to support the Mastodon. Souder appointed a committee which voted in favor of the prehistoric beast, a distant cousin of our present-day elephant. "That's one of the best mascot origination stories in all of college sports," Nauss noted. The Saint Louis University "Billikens" were given the honor of having the best mascot name in the country. For the entire Top 100 list, click the following link:
~Dons~ |
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