ELON COLLEGE – The board of trustees of Elon College has voted unanimously to adopt a new identity for the college’s athletics program, replacing the Fightin’ Christians moniker and mascot with an image that is more suited to Elon’s growing national prominence and the college’s NCAA Division I status. The action was taken at the trustees’ fall meeting held Oct. 12-13 on the Elon campus.
Elon College President Leo M. Lambert has appointed Alan White, director of athletics, and Nan Perkins, vice president for enrollment management, to co-chair a committee that will spend the next several months working with campus constituencies to establish a new athletics identity. The committee will look for a name and graphic identity that have strong institutional significance and offer advantages in creating a national reputation for the college and its athletics programs. The goal is to announce the new athletics identity for the fall 2000 season.
“This is an appropriate time to retire the Fightin’ Christians name and adopt a new athletics identity,” said Lambert. ” Elon assumed NCAA Division I status in August, and the college is working to build an exciting new on-campus stadium. The Fightin’ Christians identity was effective when Elon was a local and regional college with constituents who had direct knowledge of the institution. This year Elon is drawing students from 42 states and 35 foreign countries. The college needs an athletics identity that honors our great traditions, yet is more inclusive and easily understood on a national basis.”
Lambert stressed that the board’s action is consistent with the college’s historic relationship with the United Church of Christ. He said the change has the backing of the Rev. Richard McBride, Elon College chaplain, and the Rev. Rollin Russell, former Elon trustee and former conference minister of the UCC Southern Conference.
“In the ecumenical tradition of the UCC, church leaders agree that Elon should take steps to ensure that people of all faiths and cultures feel welcome at the college,” Lambert said.
The “Christians” identity was first used during the 1921 sports season when Elon took on Guilford College in a big football game billed as the “Christians” versus the “Quakers.” This was a reference to Elon’s ties to the Christian Church denomination, the forerunner of today’s United Church of Christ. Prior to that time, Elon’s football team was known as “the Elon Eleven,” “the Maroon and Gold Machine” and “the Bear Cats.” The term Fighting Christians was first used during the 1922-23 football season, and became a customary name for the athletics teams, even though it was never officially adopted by the college or its trustees. The Fightin’ Christians mascot did not come into being until the early 1970s. Women’s athletics teams were named the Golden Girls in the early years (1975) of organized women’s basketball.
SME, Inc., a world leader in strategic brand building specializing in sports-related identities, will assist the college in researching and creating the new identity. Since 1988, SME has completed more than 1,000 sports-oriented brand building projects across the spectrum of the sports industry. In addition to working with Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL, NHL, NCAA and NASCAR, SME has worked with scores of collegiate programs. Collegiate clients include Stanford University, Rice University, Temple University, University of Georgia, University of Virginia, Villanova University, Penn State University, Tulane University, University of Florida, N.C. State University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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