Two of my favorites from Illinois high school sports:
Teutopolis Wooden Shoes
Effingham Flaming Hearts
Are there any other Isotopes out there?
Brush, CO High School are the beetdiggers.
If you go to minor league teams there will be many unusual names (Lock Monsters, Mud Hens, Isotopes).
Southern Illinois University has definitely the coolest nickname, the Salukis (a dog breed from ancient Egypt).
The University of California, Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.
I live in Cudahy Packer Country. Now, I know how the GB Packers got their name, but I’ve always wondered if the Cudahy Packers took their name from the Green Bay Packers or just for the same reason. In Cudahy we have the Patrick Cudahy Meat Packing Plant.
And the ‘Macon Whoppee’
Don’t forget my favorite: Freeport Pretzels
Current
New York Mets – Other than farm teams, I doubt there’s another team using that nickname
New York Yankees
Detroit Pistons
Historical:
Buffalo Buffeds – Federal League
Chicago Whales – Federal League
Brooklyn Superbas – NL
Before my alma mater switched to the more pedestrian “Wildcats” in the 1920s, its sports teams went by the name “The Fighting Methodists.” I’m sure you can find lots of “fighting whatevers” but I’d be surprised if any were Methodists.
Besides the Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (already mentioned by Ol’Gaffer), I think my favorite offbeat mascot is the Haverford Black Squirrels.
I once wondered the same thing, and, in fact, had the same hypothesis (i.e. “wildcats”). However, if I remember correctly, it turned out that the most popular college mascot was “Tigers.”
I honestly don’t know if any other team in NC (or anywhere) uses the nickname “Tar Heels” other than UNC. If there is another Tar Heels team out there, it’s probably a high school/middle school of some kind. Most of those schools around here are just named after various cats, though 
Other names that are probably not too common:
Syracuse Sky Chiefs (minor league baseball)
Tulane Green Wave
Stanford Cardinal
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
You know what? I’m just going to follow this up myself.
College sports team nicknames beginning with “Fighting”[ul][]Fighting Camels - Campbell []Fighting Christians - Elon University (until 1999 - then the more boring “Phoenixes”)[]Fighting Illini - Illinois []Fighting Irish - Notre Dame [] Fighting Knights - Lynn[]Fighting Leathernecks - Western Illinois men’s teams []Fighting Scots - seven schools: [list][]Edinboro[]Gordon[]Macalester[]McHenry County College[]Monmouth College[]Ohio Valley[]Wooster[/ul][*]Fighting Sioux - North Dakota[/list]
Alright, lets see if you can find many sounding like this one from the old country:
Originally this first division football soccer team was named “Tecun Uman”, after the last ruler of the Maya people, but then it switched the name to Luis Angel Firpo, a famous boxer of the past… Uh?
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels.
[quote=“Randy_Seltzer, post:33, topic:574073”]
You know what? I’m just going to follow this up myself.
College sports team nicknames beginning with “Fighting”[ul][li]Fighting Camels - Campbell []Fighting Christians - Elon University (until 1999 - then the more boring “Phoenixes”)[]Fighting Illini - Illinois []Fighting Irish - Notre Dame [] Fighting Knights - Lynn[]Fighting Leathernecks - Western Illinois men’s teams []Fighting Scots - seven schools: [list][]Edinboro[]Gordon[]Macalester[]McHenry County College[]Monmouth College[]Ohio Valley[]Wooster[/ul][]Fighting Sioux - North Dakota[/list][/li][/QUOTE]
Don’t forget the “Fighting Whites” (aka the Fighting Whities) from the University of Northern Colorado…although they were just an intramural team and are now disbanded.
Okay, here are a few more I thought of:
U. of South Carolina Gamecocks
Penn State Nittany Lions
Montreal Expos (name not used in MLB anymore, of course)
Presbyterian College Blue Hose
Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Akron Zips
Back in the days of the American Basketball Association, the Memphis franchise came up with the name “Tams” (as in Tennesse-Arkansas-Mississippi.) Worse than that, the team symbol was actually a Tam O’Shanter. Even worse, the name was supposedly chosen by the fans.
The Rhode Island School of Design’s team name is the Nads. Their mascot is Scrotie, a giant penis, and the team call is of course “Go Nads!”
One of the 49ers refered to in the OP is Long Beach State. However, their baseball team has a unofficial nickanme that’s truly unique: the Dirtbags. They seem quite proud of it.
The Banana Slugs mentioned above reminds me of one of my favorites: The Evergreen College Geoducks (a geoduck is a large clam). Another favorite is the Spokane Community College Sasquatch.
Another “Fighting” nickname is the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes (artichokes can fight?)