Six years of the Mount Olive Tribune are now on DigitalNC, thanks to our partner University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries. The new issues are the first from the Tribune to be hosted on our site. The Mount Olive Tribune is based out of Mount Olive, North Carolina, and has served Duplin and Wayne Counties since 1904.
This batch covers 1942 to 1944, as well as from 1954 to 1956. The issues, numbering almost six hundred in total, contain articles covering daily life in the Carolina Piedmont during the second world war and the post-war period. Articles feature stories on how to reach your deployed loved ones, news at the Southern Farm Market, and advertisements for newfangled soda fountains. The papers are both comprehensive and cohesive, covering a myriad aspects of life within Mount Olive during the period.
To view more newspapers from across North Carolina, visit our North Carolina Newspapers portal.
Mascots are a complicated phenomenon. They inspire a spectrum of reactions: ridicule, ambivalence, or fierce loyalty. With thousands of yearbooks online, all of us here at the Digital Heritage Center have probably spent more time looking at yearbooks than anyone else you’re likely to meet. Mascots are a common theme.
I’ve been working on today’s post for quite some time; unable to find a history or comprehensive list of mascots in North Carolina I decided to compile one myself. So here’s a stab at a college mascot overview, drawn from yearbooks and other campus publications. Let me know what I’ve missed or gotten wrong!
Children
In the early 20th century, schools frequently chose children as mascots or sponsors, whether for a sports team or for a particular class. The earliest example we’ve found on DigitalNC is from a 1910 publication by Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson, which shows Elizabeth Settle Caldwell as the Senior Class sponsor.
Elizabeth Settle Caldwell, First North Carolina Mascot? From the 1910 Pine Knot yearbook, Atlantic Christian College.
Ms. Caldwell was the daughter of Jesse Cobb Caldwell, the college president. From what we’ve been able to tell, children mascots were frequently younger siblings of students, teachers, or others associated with the school. Students mention that Ms. Caldwell brought “solace to many a lonely, homesick heart” and this may be why children were chosen – to foster a feeling of family and comfort among students. We’ve seen several references to mascots being elected or being chosen through competition, although what this might be we haven’t been able to discover. The trend of choosing children as mascots seems to continue through the 1960s. The latest one we found is Dawn, the Senior Class mascot at Peace College (now William Peace University) in 1966.
Animals
Animal mascots span schools across the state, whether it’s Rameses at UNC-Chapel Hill or WCU’s Catamount. The bulldog and different types of cats win out as most frequently adopted. Pictures of live animal mascots start to appear in yearbooks in the early 1900s, and continue today although much less frequently. For a variety of reasons, including concerns expressed by animal rights activists, schools have shifted away from actual animals to students dressing up like animals, as you’ll see later on in this post.
“Buc” is described here as East Carolina University’s first mascot. From the 1959 Buccaneer yearbook.
Characters
While about half of the four-year college mascots in North Carolina are animals, most of the others are characters that are historic, mythical, or extraordinary in nature. From what I’ve seen in NC yearbooks, humans dressing up as the school mascot really got traction in the 1960s. Initially, these costumes weren’t the fuzzy creations we think of today, but rather less complicated ensembles where the mascot’s identity (his or her face and body) was often apparent. Yosef the Mountaineer, beloved icon of Appalachian State University, was created sometime around 1942 and looked like this in the 1960s:
Yosef the Mountaineer, aka James Randle Tedder (we think). From the 1969 Rhododendron yearbook, Appalachian State University.
One of my favorites has to be this picture of Duke Blue Devil, from 1950:
The Blue Devil. From the 1950 Chanticleer yearbook, Duke University.
Perhaps it was too hard to maintain a degree of consistency as students graduated over the years, and mascot anonymity seemed like a better idea. Whatever the reason, you start to see fuzzy, oversized costumes with gigantic headpieces in the late 1970s.
The Big Costumes
Whether animal or character, plush mascots that include a single piece body suit with a large plastic or cloth-covered head is something most Americans can identify with, thanks to professional sports. Colleges in North Carolina really embraced these costumes through the 1980s. Here’s what the UNC-Wilmington Seahawk looked like in 1987:
The Seahawk. From the 1987 Fledgling yearbook, UNC-Wilmington.
Some schools have developed multiple mascots dedicated to different audiences. It seems like the difficulty with these types of costumes is how to pull off a fierce facial expression that doesn’t come off as goofy or too scary for children. I think this picture from Davidson College sums it all up:
The Davidson Wildcat and … friends. From the 1983 Quips and Cranks yearbook.
I will also take this opportunity to mention a mascot that routinely makes the “wait … what?” list – the Campbell University Fighting Camels:
The Campbell Camel. From the 1983 Pine Burr yearbook.
Even the humans and human-like creatures are clothed in oversized costumes these days. Wake Forest University’s Deacon is a dapper chap:
Wake Forest’s Deacon poses with fans. From the 1985 Howler yearbook.
In addition to the Demon Deacons and the Blue Devils, North Carolina boasts a number of other spiritual mascots: North Carolina Wesleyan’s Battling Bishops, Belmont Abbey’s Crusaders, and Guilford College’s Quakers. Meredith College’s teams are known as the Avenging Angels (formerly just the Angels). While Elon University’s mascot is now the Phoenix, before 2000 they were the Fighting Christians:
The Elon Fighting Christian mascot with cheerleaders. From the 1986 Phi Psi Cli yearbook.
Two schools break with the animal/human tradition in North Carolina. The Brevard College Tornadoes and the Louisburg College Hurricanes. Weather phenomena mascots are always difficult to pull off. I couldn’t find one for Brevard, but Louisburg, which currently has a bird mascot, had “Louie” up until 2006:
Louie, the former Louisburg College Hurricanes mascot. From the 1996 The Oak yearbook.
Who knows when the next mascot sea change will happen. Below is a list of mascots in North Carolina; let us know if we got anything wrong. Which one is your favorite?
School |
Mascot |
Notes |
Appalachian State University |
Yosef the Mountaineer |
First appeared in the yearbook in 1942 |
Barton College |
Bulldog |
|
Belmont Abbey College |
Crusader |
|
Bennett College |
|
Known as the Bennett Belles |
Brevard College |
Tornado |
|
Campbell University |
Fighting Camels |
The Hornets in the 1920s-1930s |
Catawba College |
Catawba Indian |
|
Chowan University |
Hawks |
The Braves until 2006 |
Davidson College |
Wildcats |
Also a bulldog (1929) and a bobcat (1939) |
Duke University |
Blue Devil |
|
East Carolina University |
Pirates |
Formerly Pee Dee the Pirate |
Elizabeth City State University |
Vikings |
|
Elon University |
Phoenix |
The Fightin’ Christians until 2000 |
Fayetteville State University |
Broncos |
|
Gardner-Webb University |
Runnin’ Bulldogs |
|
Greensboro College |
The Pride |
Formerly the Hornets |
Guilford College |
Quakers |
|
High Point University |
Panthers |
|
Johnson C. Smith University |
Golden Bulls |
|
Lees-McRae College |
Wily the Bobcat |
|
Lenoir-Rhyne University |
Joe and Josie Bear |
|
Louisburg College |
Hurricanes |
|
Mars Hill College |
Mountain Lion |
|
Meredith College |
Avenging Angels |
Formerly the Angels |
Methodist University |
Eagles |
|
Montreat College |
Cavaliers |
|
Mount Olive College |
Trojans |
|
North Carolina A&T |
Aggie Dog (Bulldog) |
|
North Carolina Central University |
Eagles |
|
North Carolina State University |
Wolfpack |
|
North Carolina Wesleyan College |
Battling Bishops |
Formerly the Circuit Riders |
Peace College |
Pacer |
|
Pfeiffer University |
Falcons |
|
Queens University of Charlotte |
Rex the Royal |
|
Saint Augustine’s University |
Mighty Falcons |
|
Salem College |
Spirits |
|
Shaw University |
Bears |
|
St. Andrews University |
Knights |
|
UNC Asheville |
Bulldog |
|
UNC Chapel Hill |
Rameses the Ram |
Also known as the Tar Heels |
UNC Charlotte |
Norm the Niner |
|
UNC Greensboro |
Spartans |
|
UNC Pembroke |
Braves |
|
UNC Wilmington |
Seahawk |
|
UNC School of the Arts |
Fighting Pickle |
|
UNC School of Science and Math |
Unicorn |
|
Wake Forest University |
Demon Deacons |
|
Warren Wilson College |
Owls |
|
Western Carolina University |
Catamount |
“Paws” |
Wingate University |
Bulldog |
|
Winston-Salem State University |
Ram |
|
Thanks to our partner, University of Mount Olive, DigitalNC welcomes 61 issues of a new church newspaper called The Free Will Baptist, which span the years 1874 – 1913.
In 1873 the General Conference of the North Carolina Free Will Baptists authorized editor and proprietor E. Robert Ellis to print this weekly newspaper in Fremont, N.C. for the benefit of the denomination, although it was originally called The Free Will Baptist Advocate. Over the course of its publication history, the paper’s location was moved to at least four other North Carolina cities — including Toisnot (now known as Elm City, not included in this batch), New Bern, Ormondsville, and Ayden. After 1880 when the paper was again publishing in Fremont, N.C., the word “advocate” was dropped from its name. This would be the community paper’s second and final name change.
The publications regularly feature poetry, sermons, editorial pieces…
…and of course, advertisements:
The ‘Locals’ section offers a fascinating look into the comings and goings of the community this newspaper served.
Clipping from ‘Locals’ section of The Free Will Baptist, Vol 19, Iss. 11
View the entire collection of the Free Will Baptist at DigitalNC!
Four scrapbooks featuring baseball players who went into the big leagues from Wayne County are now online on DigitalNC.
From Sunday Star Sports, a Washington, D.C. paper on April 17, 1949. President Harry Truman threw the opening pitch at the game that day.
Two of the scrapbooks feature Ray Scarborough (1917-1982), a pitcher from Mount Olive, NC who played for the Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Washington Senators, and he served as a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. During his time on the Yankees, they went to the 1952 World Series and Scarborough was a scout with the Orioles when they went to the World Series in 1966. The scrapbooks have a mix of materials from his baseball career and as a boy growing up in Wayne County and as a student at Wake Forest University. The materials in the scrapbook are a mix of photographs, letters, and newspaper clippings and cover the 1940s through 1980s.
Tim Talton and his rival for top batting average in the Eastern League Pedro Gonzalez in 1960.
The other two scrapbooks feature Marion (Tim) Talton of Pikeville, N.C., who played as catcher for the minor league teams the St. Cloud Rox in Fargo, ND and the Springfield Giants in Springfield, MA. Known for his exceptional hitting, Talton had the second highest batting average in the Eastern League in 1960 with a .331. One scrapbook covers his time on the St. Cloud Rox in 1959 and the other, his time on the Giants in 1960. Talton moved up to the major leagues in 1966 and played for the Kansas City Athletics.
The scrapbooks were made available through Wayne County Public Library. To view more baseball materials in DigitalNC, visit here.