Lamenting the loss of nicknames
I wrote about nicknames yesterday, and how they aren’t as good as they used to be. I came up with the 10 best college football nicknames ever, a list that in no way do I claim is encyclopedic. A sport as historic and tradition-rich as college football will have hundreds of pockets of teams and players that don’t immediately spring to mind.
I do think, however, that anyone will be hard-pressed to beat The Galloping Ghost as a nickname. Or Crazy Legs.
I mentioned in the column this morning and the video yesterday that I had produced a top-10 list of OU football nicknames. Here are the 10:
10. Claude “Little Tub” Tyler: Little Tub wouldn’t go over today, but it’s a great name for 1919.
9. Raymond “Sugar Bear” Hamilton: I love nicknames that are opposites. There was nothing sweet about the way Ray Hamilton played defense, either at Douglass High School or OU or the New England football Patriots.
8. Forest “Spot” Geyer: OU’s first great passer, in 1915, nicknamed for his pinpoint passing. Hey, “Spot” Bradford has a nice ring to it.
7. “The Boz”: Pretty much sells itself.
6. “Bugger” Paul Parker: You know, I never have heard why Paul Parker was called “Bugger.” Doesn’t sound very nice.
5. Dewey “Snorter” Luster: Another opposite. Snorter was a mild-mannered coach.
4. Indian Jack Jacobs: Great quarterback from 1940. You never could get away with that today. Indian Sam Bradford?
3. Gilford “Cactus Face” Duggan: Same deal. If I called someone Cactus Face today, I might get a Mike Gundy rant out of Bob Stoops.
2. Leon “Mule Train” Heath: On second thought, this might should be No. 1 and probably deserves to be on the college football 10. Mule Train. Just a fantastic nickname.
1. Ed “Wahoo” McDaniel: I don’t know what it means, but I know I love the nickname of this 1958 linebacker.
My old friend Ed Frost wrote me today about this subject. It was good stuff:
“Agreed, today’s nicknames aren’t as good as yesteryears’. The question that interests me is: why? Are Americans less creative now? Are we falling victim to making everything shorter and quicker — and less interesting? Is it part of the technology and speed process? You know, like it happened with songs. Some of the old folk ballads used to have 20 or more verses and endless variations. But when records came along and disc jockeys, the radio stations didn’t want songs that lasted more than about three minutes.
“Anyway, I enjoyed the column today, and it brought back memories, like a kid in Hobart who played ball and was known as Booger Red. Don’t know why. His real name was William Lee, I think. And he is deceased, so we can’t ask him. ”
All I can say is, bye, bye, Miss American Pie.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Great list, and a deserving choice at the top spot – “Chief Wahoo” McDaniel. Wahoo was part American Indian, and proud of his Choctaw/Chickasaw heritage. The nickname was passed on to him by his father, Hugh “Big Wahoo” McDaniel, a legend in the west Texas oil fields around Midland in the 1960s. McDaniel was called “Little Wahoo” by family and friends until grade school where he became simply known as Wahoo McDaniel. He was an all-state and all-American running back for Midland High School (TX) in 1956. In his senior yearbook, you’ll never find the name Edward McDaniel….he is listed throughout as “Wahoo” McDaniel.
I think he still holds the record at Oklahoma for the longest punt, 91 yards against Iowa State in 1958. In 1964, his first year with the New York Jets (and the Jet’s first year at Shea Stadium), he made so many tackles in his first game, the public address announcer would say “Tackle by who?” and the crowd would respond “Wahoo!” The legend grew. After pro football, Wahoo McDaniel became one of the country’s top draws as a professional wrestler, most famous in Texas and the Carolinas, but wrestled in almost every regional territory in the country and held numerous regional, national, and world wrestling titles.