Feb 7 1992 - Pembroke axes their Brave mascot, but keeps the name and logo.
Pembroke axes Brave mascot
1992 Feb 7, Asheville Citizen Times
Pembroke - Saying he was worried about offending Indians, the chancellor of Pembroke State University - home of the Braves has given the ax to the school's costumed mascot and 1200 toy tomahawks.
Chancellor Joseph Oxendine said he was watching the school's basketball team at a game last week when he was surprised to see a caricature of an Indian brave on the sidelines.
It was the school's unofficial mascot, in an old costume apparently resurrected by a student.
“This person was dressed in full Indian regalia, with a mask-type face which was quite large and, I thought, unattractive,” Oxendine said.
After the game, Oxendine said he talked with the school’s athletic director.
He discovered that the athletic director had ordered toy tomahawks to be sold at this weekend’s homecoming game as a way to raise funds.
The tomahawks have been popular favors among fans of other teams, like the Florida State Seminoles, the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Redskins.
Located in Robeson County, where the population is one-third Indian, the college begun in 1887 as a place to train teachers for Indian children, who were barred from public schools.
The school later became a four-year college, part of the state university system, and now has about 3000 students, a fourth of whom are of Indian heritage. None of them had complained about the mascot, the chancellor said.
1992 Feb 7, Asheville Citizen Times |
1992, Feb 7. The Daily Tar Heel |
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