Hokies
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Hokies is the official name of Virginia Tech's sports teams. Fans, students, and alumni of Virginia Tech are also referred to as Hokies. The Hokie Bird, is modeled on a large turkey, has been the official sport mascot of Virginia Tech since 1961.
Origins
According to the school handbook, the Hokies name originated in the 1890s. O.M. Stull, a member of the Class of 1896, coined the word "Hokie" as part of a spirit yell now known as the Old Hokie. "Hokie" was originally a nonsense word, having no specific meaning, used as an attention getter. Around 1908, Tech students began referring to student athletes as "Gobblers" because of the way they "gobbled" their ample servings of food. In 1913, a local boy serving as a clown mascot had a large turkey pull him in a cart at football games. From then on, fans and sportswriters associated the gobbler with Tech's athletic teams, and for many years the school's official name for its sports teams was the Fighting Gobblers; though the term Hokies was widely used, the official designation was only changed in the mid-1980s by then-football coach and athletic director Bill Dooley. A costumed Gobbler mascot (now the Hokie Bird) was introduced during games in 1962, and has been a symbol of school spirit ever since.
See also
External links
- Virginia Tech Lore (http://www.unirel.vt.edu/vthistory/hokie-explained.html) - Virginia Tech's official "What is a Hokie?" page
- Whence Hokie (http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~swvaroot/Hokie_Article.html) - A more thorough discussion by Edgar A. Howard (Virginia Tech Class of 1978)
- Tech Sideline (http://www.techsideline.com) - An unofficial fan site for Virginia Tech sports; formerly known as Hokie Central.