Why we are Wolverines

Submitted by APMGoBlue on
Not sure if this is common knowledge here, but 'did you know' it was actually Ohio that gave Michiganders the name Wolverines during the Toledo War. To them, the wolverine represented a disgusting animal with crude eating habits. Michiganders took to it because of the ferocity of the wolverine. That's all I know (aside from some boring(?) details of the Toledo War)... thoughts, corrections, additional info? Why is MSU the Spartans? Separatists I guess.

GRFS11

May 10th, 2015 at 9:52 PM ^

MSU is the Spartans because Ann Arbor was known as the Athens of the Midwest, and the Spartans and Athenians were enemies. Thus Spartan comes in response to Ann Arbor.



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Wolverine Devotee

May 10th, 2015 at 9:59 PM ^

Further proving their inferiority complex.

Michigan was actually called the Athens of the West.

Here is the third verse of The Victors that not many know about:

Hail! to our Alma Mater!
Hail! to dear old Ann Arbor!
Hail! Hail to Michigan
The Athens of the West!

Wolverine Devotee

May 10th, 2015 at 10:55 PM ^

It came out in 2006. The whole thing is more about the off the field hi-jinx going on between the two and how they have more of a history NOT playing each other than they do playing each other.

Kryk should do another updated edition to document the latest set of hi-jinx. 

LSAClassOf2000

May 10th, 2015 at 10:12 PM ^

Yep. The one injury, as I remember, was the Monroe County (MI) sheriff, who had come to Toledo to arrest Benjamin Stickney (for whom Stickney Avenue in Toledo is named). Stickney stabbed the sheriff but the wound was not life-threatening.

Michigan's compensation was the Upper Peninsula, of course - considered worthless at the time but as it turns out, rather rich in copper and iron. 

DrMantisToboggan

May 10th, 2015 at 10:07 PM ^

DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT NOW?! AND WOMEN CAN VOTE!!!

Sorry to be a dick, can never pass it up. The settlement of the war was us receiving the UP and Ohio receiving Toledo...which, okay...Ohioans displayed high predictive intelligence and negotiating skills even in the 1800's. Michigan State actually got the name Spartans after they switched from the Aggies, from their time as Michigan Agricultural College. There was a short period where they didn't really have a nickname until two greek brothers approached the athletic department with the story of the Spartans at Thermopylae (300). So yeah, fun history thread guys.



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BIGBLUEWORLD

May 10th, 2015 at 10:17 PM ^

The Wolverine Way by Douglas Chadwick.  Great nature book that documents one of the most fierce, free and gutsy animals in the world: The Wolverine.

Ray

May 10th, 2015 at 10:17 PM ^

That George Custer referred to the Michigan militia as "Wolverines" while leading them in the Civil War. As in, "C'mon, you tough wolverines!" That name could have obviously originated earlier (as in during the hostilities with Ohio over Toledo) but I'd heard Custer really popularized it.

Mac Attack

May 10th, 2015 at 10:21 PM ^

The nickname is manufactured. Back when MSU was Michigan State College, a sports journalist/announcer referred to the team as'Sportans', or another way of coming them'athletes'. To make the nickname more catchy, they dropped the 'O' and added the 'A', now calling them the name we all know them as today, 'Spartans'. ... The more you know.

That's Just Kramer

May 10th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^

The truth is that there is no truly known reason why the Wolverine was chosen as a nickname. However, there are several theories.

The great Michigan football coach Fielding H. Yost had a theory for the nickname, which he wrote about in the Michigan Quarterly in 1944. Yost felt the reason for the nickname concerned the trading of wolverine pelts which occurred in Sault St. Marie for many years. The trading station served as an exchange between the Indians and other trappers and fur traders, who would eventually ship the products of to the Eastern United States. Because many of the furs were in fact wolverine pelts, traders may have referred to them as "Michigan wolverines", leading to the state nickname and ultimately to the University of Michigan representation.

Eight years later in the Michigan Quarterly Review of 1952, Albert H. Marckwardt presented another theory for the "wolverine" name. Marckwardt's reasoning is based when Michigan was first settled by the French in the late 1700s. The appetites of the French who made up a sizable portion of the settlers were judged to be gluttonous or "wolverine-like" and therefore, the title wolverines was set upon them.

The last theory surrounds the border dispute between Michigan and Ohio in 1803. While the two sides argued over proper setting of the state line, The Michiganders were called wolverines. It was unclear, however, whether the Michigan natives pinned the name upon themselves to show their tenacity and strength or whether Ohioans chose the name on account of the gluttonous habit of the wolverine. From then on, Michigan was labeled "the Wolverine state: and when the University of Michigan was founded, it simply adopted the nickname of the state it represented.

http://campusinfo.umich.edu/article/wolverine