blacklistedbully
08-22-2016, 02:24 PM
After reading this asinine post from a Black Bear on Rivals I had to look it up and respond:
The Ole Miss connection to "Rebels" is not widely known. During the Civil War, the entire student body of Ole Miss joined the same unit. Every single one of them was killed or wounded on the left side of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. None returned to Ole Miss.
The name does not honor slavery. It honors those young students who never came back.
After a little digging I found this gem from the archives of The Oxford Eagle
On Nov. 2, 1929, the MISSISSIPPIAN announced a contest to name the Ole Miss athletic teams. The Cardinal Club, a campus service organization, would offer a handsome, engraved, silver loving cup and Coach Hazel offered five $3 Ole Miss-Mississippi A&M football tickets as a prize to the person that could come up with the best nickname for Ole Miss athletic teams.
The contest, sponsored by the MISSISSIPPIAN, would run until midnight on Nov. 29, 1929, when the names suggested would be turned over to the selection committee. The committee consisted of Coach Hazel; Chancellor Alfred Hume; Judge L.A. Smith of Holly Springs, the president of the Alumni Association; and Noel "Mally" Malone, president of the Associated Student Body. The committee was anxious to select a name that "symbolizes the spirit, traditions and ideals of the University of Mississippi. It should embody the very essence of Ole Miss - courage, loyalty, and quality."
In every issue of the campus newspaper until Nov. 19, articles were written asking for names to be submitted and listed names that had been already submitted. Some of the names suggested were the Confederates, Mississippi Flood, Cardinals, Rebels, Mississippi Torrent, Red and Blue Devils and The Magnolians. Names came from all parts of the country. The MISSISSIPPIAN reported that "many of the names are exceptionally good, others are medium and still others are really laughable."
On Nov. 23, 1929, the MISSISSIPPIAN reported that a name had been chosen. The "Mississippi Flood" was the name chosen by the selection committee. It had been submitted by Dick McCool Jr. of Canton, an Ole Miss student about 30 years before. Ed and Joe Dalstrom, current students, also were given credit for submitting the same name, but McCool was awarded the prize since he first suggested the name.
The second choice was a tie between the "Rebels" and the "Democrats." The third choice was the "Old Masters", a name that would surely caused uproar in today's era of political correctness.
"Flood" never caught on, so 6 years later they changed it to "Rebels".
The Ole Miss connection to "Rebels" is not widely known. During the Civil War, the entire student body of Ole Miss joined the same unit. Every single one of them was killed or wounded on the left side of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. None returned to Ole Miss.
The name does not honor slavery. It honors those young students who never came back.
After a little digging I found this gem from the archives of The Oxford Eagle
On Nov. 2, 1929, the MISSISSIPPIAN announced a contest to name the Ole Miss athletic teams. The Cardinal Club, a campus service organization, would offer a handsome, engraved, silver loving cup and Coach Hazel offered five $3 Ole Miss-Mississippi A&M football tickets as a prize to the person that could come up with the best nickname for Ole Miss athletic teams.
The contest, sponsored by the MISSISSIPPIAN, would run until midnight on Nov. 29, 1929, when the names suggested would be turned over to the selection committee. The committee consisted of Coach Hazel; Chancellor Alfred Hume; Judge L.A. Smith of Holly Springs, the president of the Alumni Association; and Noel "Mally" Malone, president of the Associated Student Body. The committee was anxious to select a name that "symbolizes the spirit, traditions and ideals of the University of Mississippi. It should embody the very essence of Ole Miss - courage, loyalty, and quality."
In every issue of the campus newspaper until Nov. 19, articles were written asking for names to be submitted and listed names that had been already submitted. Some of the names suggested were the Confederates, Mississippi Flood, Cardinals, Rebels, Mississippi Torrent, Red and Blue Devils and The Magnolians. Names came from all parts of the country. The MISSISSIPPIAN reported that "many of the names are exceptionally good, others are medium and still others are really laughable."
On Nov. 23, 1929, the MISSISSIPPIAN reported that a name had been chosen. The "Mississippi Flood" was the name chosen by the selection committee. It had been submitted by Dick McCool Jr. of Canton, an Ole Miss student about 30 years before. Ed and Joe Dalstrom, current students, also were given credit for submitting the same name, but McCool was awarded the prize since he first suggested the name.
The second choice was a tie between the "Rebels" and the "Democrats." The third choice was the "Old Masters", a name that would surely caused uproar in today's era of political correctness.
"Flood" never caught on, so 6 years later they changed it to "Rebels".