The Chicago Packers played in the NBA in 1961-'62. After one season, they changed their name to the Zephyrs, which if anything is even less common. (There’s a minor league baseball team called the New Orleans Zephyrs, however.) In the end we all know what the Zephyrs became…
The Washington Wizards. The team moved to Baltimore in the early '60s and became the Bullets, and more recently they moved to Washington and then changed Bullets to Wizards. The Chicago Bulls joined the NBA in 1966.
But not before endowing a scholarship or two with the proceeds from their merchandise sales. I never saw them play (or cared to), and am not a sports fan in general, but I liked the idea and came in here to make sure they got a mention.
I don’t know if there are many teams named after colors these days, but the Harvard Crimson and Stanford Cardinal are still out there. The Alabama Crimson Tide and Penn State Nittany Lions are probably not common either.
To make it local–
From the single-A New-York Penn League:
Auburn Doubledays – how many teams have a logo that represents a historical person?
Williamsport Crosscutters
Vermont Lake Monsters
& the defunct Binghampton Triplets
Utica Utes
from the AA Eastern League:
Richmond Flying Squirrels
Johnstown Johnnies
From the old Canadian-American League (all defunct)
Amsterdam Rugmakers
Oswego Netherlands
The Cardinal were actually named in imitation of the Crimson. But most fans either mistakenly call them the Cardinals or refer to them by their informal nickname, the Trees.
Other color names are Dartmouth Big Green, Cornell Big Red, and Syracuse Orangemen
I graduated from Washburn University of Topeka, Topeka being the capital of Kansas.
Washburn men’s teams are the Ichabods. See, the school was founded in 1865 as Lincoln College but just a few years later, struggling financially, the school got a big donation from a guy back East who never even SAW the place. His name was Ichabod Washburn. To honor him the school changed it’s name, and later, when college sports got big, his given name became our mascot.
University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors…
Do any teams use “Twins” besides Minnesota?
I know the school I teach at has a unique team name, at least for California: The Thunderbirds.
My favorite minor league team is named after a geologic rupture: The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
The football team is just the Warriors these days. Wikipedia says it’s complicated:
And the women’s teams are the Rainbow Wahine.
Other than the Buffalo football team I doubt there are many Bills out there.
The City of Stockton’s minor league baseball team is the Ports.
Millennium High School in Tracy, Ca has the Falcon as their mascot.
Brandeis is the Judges.
Cute. Similarly named are two high schools in Portland: Jefferson Democrats and Grant Generals. There’s also a Lincoln HS in Portland, but they’re the Cardinals rather than the Republicans.
I mentioned them in post #40.
I was rather taken aback to learn of the Yuma (Ariz.) H.S. Criminals.
The Hutto (Tex.) Hippos.
Alas, the Pekin (Ill.) Chinks are now the Dragons. Here’s a blog entry about other team names now abandoned as offensive.
Butte County High School is pretty famous for naming their teams the Pirates. Innocuous by itself, yes, but rather unfortunate considering the name of the school…
New Hampshire Fisher Cats (minor league baseball)
Maine Red Claws (minor league basketball)
Lewison Maineiacs (minor league hockey)
Portland Sea Dogs
Williams College Ephs. Mascot is a purple cow.
While I was there we didn’t have any teams, but NCSA had a team name: The Fighting Pickles!