Two questions I am often asked by people who don't go to Chapel Hill are "Do you know Tyler Hansbrough?" (no.) and "What's a Tar Heel?"  Carolina isn't the only school in the ACC with an obscure mascot. Here are the stories behind the Tar Heels, the Demon Deacons, the Blue Devils, the Wahoos, and the Hokies.

University of North Carolina Tar Heels

According to legend, the term "Tar Heels" originated to describe North Carolinians after a battle during the Civil War when North Carolinian soldiers stuck their ground while soldiers from other states retreated. After the battle, other soldiers asked the North Carolinians what they planned to do with the tar they had back in North Carolina and the North Carolinians answered that Confederate President Jefferson Davis was going to "put it on you'ns heels to make you stick better in the next fight." UNC-CH adopted the nickname for North Carolinians as the school's nickname.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

In 1922, Hank Garrity, Sr. took over the Wake Forest athletic program and made plans to rebuild it after it had basically disintegrated. After a decisive win over rival Duke, sports editor Mayon Parker of Ahoskie thought the best way to describe Wake Forest's "devilish" play was to dub them the "Demon Deacons." The personification of the Demon Deacon came in 1941 when a frat brother dared Jack Baldwin to dress up as the school's mascot.

Duke Blue Devils

"Blue Devils" was orignially the nickname of a group of well-known French soldiers recognized for their bravery in World War I. In 1921, then Trinity College, lifted a ban on football at the school. Students felt that their team needed a nickname and The Trinity Chronicle student newspaper attempted to take a vote on what the nickname should be. Unfortunately, the results of the vote were indecisive and it was not until 1923 that the editors of the school paper decided to go with "Blue Devils" to describe the university's athletic teams. Eventually, the name caught on and became the official mascot.

Virginia Tech Hokies

The term "Hokie" came from a cheer written by O. M. Stull, class of 1896. The cheer won first place in a contest and is now known as "Old Hokie." It goes like this:

     Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy.
     Techs, Techs, V.P.I.
     Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
     Polytechs - Vir-gin-ia.
     Rae, Ri, V.P.I.

The word Hokie, which was then a word that mean "hooray," stuck as the school's nickname.

University of Virginia Wahoos

In the 1890s, UVa fans would sing a chant that included the phrase "wah-hoo-wah" during baseball games against then rival Washington and Lee. The Washington and Lee fans, attempting to poke fun at UVa, called their players "a bunch of rowdy Wahoos." UVa fans liked the name and by the 1940s it was being used as frequently as the school's official nickname, the Cavaliers.