{"id":1047,"date":"2021-09-21T11:12:38","date_gmt":"2021-09-21T15:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/?page_id=1047"},"modified":"2025-11-06T12:07:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T17:07:56","slug":"wolfpack-nickname","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/spirit-and-traditions\/wolfpack-nickname\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Is NC State Called the Wolfpack?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

The 100-Year Pack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just after World War I, the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering was establishing a new identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the entire student body decommissioned from the Student Army Training Corps<\/a> and the school broke in its new official name, a new means of campus communication<\/a>, a new form of self-governance<\/a> and new athletics leadership, what is now known as branding was a big part of building a better postwar version of the 32-year-old land grant institution that had adopted red and white for its colors in late 1895, but had no official mascot or nickname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, the former N.C. College for Agriculture and Mechanic Arts had been yoked with names given by outside entities: The Aggies. The Farmers. The Techs. <\/strong>Names that could easily be leveraged into pejoratives by classist rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicknames of Yore<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It took a while \u2014 and a few false starts \u2014 to find the right name to show pride in the people\u2019s college.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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The Aggies<\/strong> were a natural nickname for an agricultural institution. It was also the name used by every similar land-grant school in the country. From Maryland to Mississippi, State College often played Aggie-on-Aggie games on any given weekend. (1909)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A
The Farmers<\/strong>, while seen as honorable, were also derided as lowbrow by classist neighbors. Insults of \u201cCulture Beats Agriculture\u201d were easy to hurl but difficult to stick on a school proud of its agrarian heritage, which continues today through the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. (1916)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A
The Techs <\/strong>gave a nod to the other half of NC State College\u2019s original disciplines: mechanics, technology and a foundation in sciences. That part of our identity has expanded from those greasy overalls into our world-class College of Engineering and College of Sciences, which have improved lives throughout the state, across the nation and around the world. (1915)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
\"A<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

The institution needed something better. With good timing, an anonymous \u201cold grad\u201d<\/strong> came through with a suggestion in this unsigned letter<\/a> to the February 1921 NC State Alumni News<\/em> that fit perfectly and uniquely for the school located on the west end of Raleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt has always appeared to me that those teams which had traditional symbols and nicknames have the greatest morale and spirit among the colleges. Take, for instance, the Yale \u2018Bulldog,\u2019 or the Princeton \u2018Tiger,\u2019 and the \u2018Carolina Tarheels [sic<\/em>],\u2019 with many others. These names add a picturesque touch to those colleges which I have always thought reacted favorably on the playing of the team, not to speak of the added drawing power of something like the Gold [sic<\/em>] Tornado from Georgia Tech. Pride is taken in these names and teams traditionally try to live up to them. Now, my suggestion is that State teams take up the symbol of the Wolves. Here is a snappy, aggressive name which would have a most favorable effect on the College. To have the State team known as the Wolf Pack would add tremendously in publicity.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s counter to the oral tradition holding that the nickname came from a letter to a local paper that said NC State fans were as \u201cunruly as a pack of wolves\u201d at a football game. Supposedly, the school\u2019s fans quickly and affectionately adopted the new name for its football team.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cHere is a snappy, aggressive name which would have a most favorable effect on the College.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NC State Alumni News<\/p>\n \n

February 1921<\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A copy of that letter has never been unearthed, nor has any evidence that the school\u2019s Board of Trustees or Athletics Council ever officially discussed or adopted \u201cWolfpack\u201d as the football team\u2019s official nickname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As in nature, the Pack formed on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aerial
NC State faces off against the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill during a football game at Riddick Stadium, circa 1925.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Changes Abound<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Under the leadership of President Wallace Carl Riddick (1918-23), once a civil engineering professor and the person most responsible for the development of athletics on campus, massive changes were underway at NC State following World War I. The college divided its programs into schools for engineering, textiles, education and business, as well as a graduate school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In athletics, new concrete grandstands replaced the wooden bleachers at the on-campus football\/baseball\/track stadium named in Riddick\u2019s honor. Alum Harry Hartsell returned from his war service to resume his leadership of the athletics department and football program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NC
A snapshot of Wolfpack football in action, circa 1921.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The anonymous alum\u2019s nickname suggestion became a reality in September. The day before the first football game of the season, the Fayetteville Observer<\/em> wrote: \u201cTomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Coach Hartsell will unleash the Wolfpack in the opening game of the grid season. Randolph-Macon furnishes the opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its coverage of the Sept. 25, 1921 game, the Raleigh News & Observer<\/em>, one of the outlets that most often used the earlier nicknames, noted that for two quarters the \u201cWolfpack was lamblike,\u201d but the paper begrudgingly accepted the new moniker.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cLiving up to its newly acquired nickname in parts of only two quarters, [the] North Carolina State College \u2018Wolfpack\u2019 yesterday pried the lid off the 1921 gridiron season by handing a 21-to-0 drubbing to Randolph-Macon College of Virginia.\u201d<\/p>

\u2014 (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer<\/em><\/p>\n <\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Technician<\/em>, the Agromeck<\/em> and the NC State Alumni News <\/em>all immediately began referring to the football team as the Wolfpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years, however, local papers still referred to other State College teams by the old nicknames, at least until 1925 when head football and basketball coach Gus Tebell introduced new red silk basketball uniforms for his hoops team.<\/p>\n\n\n

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For that era, Tebell\u2019s squad played fast and furious on the hardwoods and adopted \u201cRed Terrors\u201d as its nickname. That became common usage for all teams other than football throughout the Great Depression and World War II, when the campus again changed its emphasis from general education to military training for the war effort.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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100+ Years<\/h2>\n

\n We adopted our \u201cWolfpack\u201d nickname a century ago, first picking it up in 1921.\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n

When Col. John Harrelson returned from his service in the war, his title changed from dean of administration to chancellor, and he became the first chief executive of the college to have that title. One of his first proposals as the institution\u2019s new leader was to rid the football team of the \u201cWolfpack\u201d nickname, since he associated that name with German navy submarines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NC
1940s Wolfpack fans from the Agromeck<\/em>, NC State’s yearbook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In July 1946, less than a year after he earned his new title, he asked the student body to consider something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only thing lower than a wolf is a snake in the grass,\u201d proclaimed the veteran commander in both world wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He offered a contest for students and alumni to come up with a better nickname, with first prize being six season football tickets for the 1947 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gen.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (front left) and Chancellor John William Harrelson (front right) at NC State Farm and Home Week in 1947. Chancellor Harrelson, a United States colonel and veteran of both world wars, was no fan of the nickname \u201cWolfpack\u201d due to its association with German naval tactics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The nominees were less than inspiring: the North Staters, the Cardinals, the Hornets, the Cultivators, the Pine-Rooters (an eastern North Carolina name for pigs), the Auctioneers and the Calumets. The latter two suggestions were references to North Carolina\u2019s 200-year-old tobacco heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turned out, the overwhelming choice of the all-male student population \u2014 and most of their wives \u2014 was to keep the Wolfpack nickname. Despite his military misgivings, Harrelson relented, as long as all teams adopted the same nickname.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
By the end of the 1940s, it was apparent that the “Wolfpack” nickname was going to stick.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One Pack, One Brand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t hurt that the 1946 football team, led by newly hired and nationally renowned coach Beattie Feathers, had what was the most successful season on record<\/strong>. The Wolfpack \u2014 with a mechanical wolf in tow \u2014 was invited to play the first postseason bowl game in school history, facing Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. Hundreds of students howled from the Raleigh depot all the way to the Sunshine State on a train specially chartered for the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, new basketball coach Everett Case led the hoops team, still called the \u201cRed Terrors,\u201d to its first Southern Conference championship since 1929 (and the first of nine conference titles in 10 years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New baseball coach Vic Sorrell, a longtime star pitcher of the Detroit Tigers, began building his successful baseball program, and swimming coach Willis Casey started a long string of conference titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The success of those athletics teams garnered unprecedented national attention for the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Throwback
Wolfpack garb from the \u201960s and \u201970s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the next three decades, various unofficial versions of the Wolfpack logo became common for all teams as the athletics department continued to grow, with the famous Strutting Wolf logo representing NC State throughout the 1970s, which is generally considered the Golden Age of Wolfpack athletics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The men\u2019s basketball team won three Atlantic Coast Conference championships, the baseball team won three consecutive ACC titles and head coach Lou Holtz led the football team to the 1973 ACC title and four postseason games in his four years at State. Meanwhile, Gibsonville, North Carolina, native Kay Yow began building nationally recognized women\u2019s athletics programs<\/strong> as head coach of the women\u2019s volleyball, basketball and slow-pitch softball programs immediately after passage of the federal Title IX law in 1972.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfpack in the Wild<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With effective branding and distinctive logos, the Wolfpack is immediately recognizable around the world for its affiliation with NC State.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Slobbering Wolf<\/strong>: A longtime fan favorite, the \u201cSlobbering Wolf\u201d logo has been reissued and put back into retail as part of the Wolfpack College Vault Edition<\/a>, which honors some of our vintage marks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Circle Wolf<\/strong>: First created for\u00a0Think and Do the Extraordinary, NC\u00a0State\u2019s capital campaign, the \u201cCircle Wolf<\/a>\u201d unites the Wolfpack spirit of athletics with the drive and power of the university\u2019s academic mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
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Weaving Art and Identity:<\/strong> We integrate wolf designs into public art across our campus \u2014 from murals to sculptures to Wolf Walk<\/a><\/em>, a trio of woven-bronze wolves serving as the iconic centerpiece of our Wolf Plaza.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"The
Tuffy Head<\/strong>: Our iconic wolf head logo has seen several iterations over the years, but this has been the consistent version since the 1960s. Updated in 2005, it\u2019s the primary mark<\/a> used by NC State Athletics. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

Students and alumni alike have helped enhance the nickname’s strength and recognition through the school\u2019s spirit squads, friendly male and female student-portrayed mascots and live-animal mascots on the football sidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Few people around the country have any confusion about the association between NC State and the Wolfpack.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Student<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n

Protecting the \u201cWolfpack\u201d Name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In November 1983, a few months after head coach Jim Valvano and his men\u2019s basketball teams captured the nation\u2019s attention by winning the unlikeliest NCAA championship in the unlikeliest manner possible, the school joined with other schools in the ACC in protecting its nickname and logos. It registered \u201cWolfpack\u201d and the Strutting Wolf and Block S logos as federally licensed trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office \u2014 one of the first NCAA universities to do so<\/strong> \u2014 because of the nickname\u2019s unique one-word construction and the preexisting awareness of NC State teams.<\/p>\n\n\n

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NC State\u2019s trademarks now bring in more than $1 million per year in trademark royalties to the NC State general scholarships fund, through the sale of officially licensed collegiate apparel and other branded goods. The university created the Office of Strategic Brand Management<\/a> in 2019 within University Communications and Marketing, which not only has oversight of trademark licensing but also works to protect the trademarks from encroachment or unauthorized use.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n

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\n $2M\n <\/div>\n

\n in trademark royalties were earned in 2024, going toward the university\u2019s general scholarships fund.\n <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n\n

Some of that encroachment comes from other college teams. In particular, the University of Nevada Wolf Pack and NC State have butted wolf heads over the usage of names and logos. The University of Wisconsin and NC State have battled over the similarity of the Strutting Wolf and Bucky Badger logos.<\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n \"A\n \n \n Play Video<\/title>\n \n <\/svg>\n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
We asked faculty experts from our College of Veterinary Medicine to tell us a bit about the nature of wolves \u2014 and we couldn’t help but notice a few similarities.<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the modern era of athletics branding through international apparel companies, nicknames are more important than ever but less unique. Among the five most popular nicknames in American college and professional sports, there are 1,603 \u201cEagles,\u201d 1,345 \u201cTigers,\u201d 1,136 \u201cBulldogs\u201d, 1,124 \u201cPanthers\u201d and 969 \u201cWildcats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is still only one<\/strong> \u201cWolfpack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generations after that first pack was first formed, the nickname remains the snappy, aggressive and, most importantly, unique and valuable brand the unknown \u201cold grad\u201d was looking for when he suggested it a century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Spirit and Traditions<\/h2>\n

NC State’s campus is filled with rich traditions. Whether you’re exploring our Hallowed Places, grabbing a scoop of Howling Cow or running the Krispy Kreme Challenge, you’re a part of them.<\/p>\n \n

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\n \n Discover our traditions<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/svg><\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n
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\"Mrs.<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 100-Year Pack Just after World War I, the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering was establishing a new identity. As the entire student body decommissioned from the Student Army Training Corps and the school broke in its new official name, a new means of campus communication, a new form of self-governance and new athletics leadership, what is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"parent":1227,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/floating-box-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"pageIntro\":\"Learn how we adopted our name \u2014 and how our identity has evolved over a century.\",\"backgroundColor\":\"red_400\",\"boxPosition\":\"right\",\"ctaNum\":\"one\",\"useCTA\":false,\"focalPoint\":{\"x\":\"0.17\",\"y\":\"0.57\"},\"imageURL\":\"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/1931-program-sans-schedule-cropped-2.jpg\",\"imageID\":1446,\"imageAlt\":\"A pink and blue wolf illustration from an NC State 1931 football program.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1047","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1047"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13988,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1047\/revisions\/13988"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}