Across the US, most school and professional teams are generally named after animals. The tiger is considered the most common team name among all organized teams, particularly high schools, even though the tiger is not native to the US. Therefore, when a team takes its name from another source and builds their colors and decorations around it, such as the Trojan Mascots, it certainly sets them apart from most other schools or teams.
Many sports teams have an interesting history of using Trojan mascots. After all, the city of Troy had lost its struggle with the armies of Greece and was burned to the ground. So it does seem unusual on the surface that some would adopt that name. But until the late 19th century, the city of Troy was considered by many to be just a myth, part of a wonderful ancient Greek story that was just as real as Cyclopes or Medusas.
Then in the 1870’s a German archeologist named Heinrich Schliemann confirmed the discovery of ancient Troy in modern Turkey. The news of this finding swept the world and suddenly what was once thought of as myth now became a reality. Such interest rose along with the formation of college and professional sports teams and some began adopting the name “Trojan” for their team names.
The most famous “Men of Troy” is the University of Southern California or USC. The school was founded in 1880, right around the time of Schiemann’s discovery. However, until the 1910’s USC was known unofficially as either the Fighting Methodists or Wesleyans. It took an unusual event in 1912 to change the name.
During a track and field event against Stanford, the USC team was being badly beaten and had seemingly little chance to win, but they fought back gallantly and came very close to overcoming the lead Stanford had built, but not quite enough to succeed. A sportswriter for the Los Angeles Time, Owen Bird, reported that USC had “fought on like Trojans” during the event and the university president at that time, George F. Bovard, quick approved “Trojans” as the official name.
The most iconic symbol of the USC Trojans is the famous Trojan shrine located near the center of the campus, commonly known as “Tommy Trojan”. And despite the obvious nature of the shrine, it is not the “Trojan Mascot” for the school. That honor goes to a horse named “Traveler”, who appears at all the USC home games and is ridden by a man dressed as a Trojan, although again he’s not representing the actual Trojan shrine.
The remarkable success of the USC sports teams, particularly in football, has helped elevate their unusual nickname to world-wide fame, making Trojan mascots a familiar symbol to sports fans around the world.
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