Guelph Gryphons
Founded in 1964 after an amalgamation of three separate educational institutions—the Ontario Agricultural College, the MacDonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College—Guelph is among the younger stock of the OUA’s universities. However, whatever the school lacks in age it makes up for with its chosen name and mascot: the Gryphon.
Although it didn’t originate in Greek culture, the gryphon played a particularly notable role in Greek mythos as one of the guardians of the southern borders of Hyperborea—a mythical region in the far north of the then-known world. Half lion, half eagle, and a fierce guardian of gold, gryphons were heralded not only for their undying fidelity to protecting their plunder, but also the violent lengths they would also go to to do so.
Guelph chose the gryphon in 1964 under rather unknown circumstances, only stating the mythological creature exemplified the characteristics of the school and its flock of students.
Given the rather polarizing character traits of the mythical beast, one can hope the gryphon’s more positive characteristics were the ones Guelph thought worth immortalizing.
Western Mustangs
As with many other OUA universities, Western’s team name, the Mustangs, came to with a little help from the press.
Up until they ed the senior intercollegiate league in 1929—the contemporary equivalent of the OUA—Western’s battalion of “intermediate” footballers, along with the other varsity teams at the university, operated without an official team name. Instead, they were referred to by a series of informal names haphazardly used by fans and locals. Called the “Broncos” by some, the “Skeletons” by others, and even the “Purples” by their first senior intercollegiate coach, Joe Breen, it wasn’t until the London Free Press called the football team the “Mustangs” off-handedly in 1929 that one name gained some traction.
To settle the matter once and for all, the Western Gazette, Western’s university’s student-run newspaper then put the name up to a vote—either the Mustangs or the Purples.
Much to the dismay of Joe Breen, it was the former which won out.
RMC Paladins
When RMC opened itself back up to students after the conclusion of World War II, varsity athletes chose to call themselves the Redmen, a name allegedly inspired by the school’s scarlet colours and the fact the Royal Military College was an all-male institution at the time.
Yet in 1980, almost two decades after women students began attending the school, RMC’s istration found it would best suit the university to have a team name equally representative of the university’s ever-evolving student body. The name was also increasingly considered a pejorative and offensive term towards Canada’s Indigenous populations.
So in 1996, RMC’s commandant General Charles Emond invited the students to come up with a new name—with a slew of criteria to adhere to. For the new name to be serviceable, it needed to be representative of the profession of arms, identifiable in both English and French, unisex, original, easily incorporated into songs and chants, easily identifiable for the public, and finally, be representative of a person, group, or animal rather than an inanimate object.
The naming process took over two years—with 24 possible names floating around during the deliberation period. Finally, mid-way through 1997, two front-runners emerged, the Sabres and the Paladins, which were then put up to a vote.
Evidently, the Paladins won with a combined 70 per cent of the student vote. Coincidentally, it was also the only name that fully met each of the criteria originally proposed by Emond.
Brock Badgers
Little information is available regarding how and why Brock University came to use the affable badger as their mascot, but there’s one etymological bread crumb trail we can follow to make an educated guess.
In old English, male badgers were known as “brocks,” a name partly derived from the French verb “becher” (to dig), an activity badgers are well known for.
Rather ubiquitous in the British Isles, new towns in the UK often became prefixed with the word “brock” to reflect the prevalence of badgers in the surrounding areas . Places such as Brockenhurst, Brockhampton, or Brockworth are persisting examples.
Though the link isn’t explicit, it’s fair to guess that Brock’s name and mascot pay homage to the old English nomenclature of British towns. If not, there’s consolation in the fact the name is anything but inconvenient.
Laurentian Voyageurs
Another university with a mysterious history regarding the choice of its mascot, Laurentian’s sports teams have apparently operated as the Voyageurs since the school’s incorporation in 1960. All the same, their chosen mascot, the voyageur, is a well-known icon in the annals of Canadian history, and one whose relationship to the area surrounding Sudbury—Laurentian’s city—might provide the missing link to where the choice originated.
Often synonymized with “coureurs de bois,” their independently operating counterparts, voyageurs were 18th- and 19th-century French-Canadians who collected and transported furs for trading companies during the boom of the North American fur trade. Contemporarily idolized for their near-inhuman feats of strength, navigation, and endurance, voyageurs were the backbone of fur-trading corporations like the Hudson’s Bay Company and often worked tirelessly as canoe-toting tradesmen well into their sixties.
Although Sudbury may not be considered one of the epicenters of the Canadian fur trade, it at one time had a Hudson’s Bay Trading Post, a place voyageurs would’ve likely frequented. Perhaps this was the eventual inspiration for Laurentian’s mascot choice in 1960.
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