posted 05-15-2003 02:03 PM            

UMass Considers Dropping Minuteman Mascot

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030508/ap_on_re_us/embattled_minuteman_3

Thu May 8, 5:51 AM ET

By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer

AMHERST, Mass. - In a shot at tradition heard 'round the state, the University of Massachusetts is considering mustering out its Minuteman mascot in favor of a gray wolf.

The central problem, said Ian McCaw, who took over as athletic director last fall, is the Minuteman hasn't been selling many sweat shirts and hats for the cash-strapped school, which eliminated seven varsity teams last year.

"We've verified with focus groups that people don't buy items with Minutemen on them," McCaw said.

The Minuteman is the depiction of the colonial soldiers who faced the British at Lexington and Concord in the opening battle of the Revolution.

There are also, McCaw said, "gender, firearms and ethnicity issues." And Phoenix Design, the firm hired by the university to spruce up its logos, found "it's difficult to illustrate a Minuteman."

Real Minutemen carried guns, although the student who dresses up in homespun uniform and a tri-corner hat at home games was disarmed years ago.

Some alumni are up in arms about the proposed change.

"It stinks," protested Ed Struzziero of Wilbraham, a 1950 graduate whose class raised $100,000 and presented the school with a statue of a Minuteman last fall.

More than 900 of the 1,100 men and women in Struzziero's class were World War II veterans, and he said many felt the Minuteman was an appropriate symbol for the state university in the place where the American Revolution began. "Times change, but some things shouldn't be touched," he said.

Besides, Struzziero said, a gray wolf bears a suspicious resemblance to a husky, the mascot of the rival University of Connecticut.

McCaw and Lombardi said they planned to issue their decision on the Minuteman's future by the end of the month, but there were no items bearing a Minuteman logo in the school bookstore Wednesday.

A decade ago, one of Lombardi's predecessors also considered dumping the Minuteman, which has been the school's mascot since it dropped the Redmen in 1972, but retreated in the face of an outpouring of outrage.

However, since the early 1990s when the school's basketball and football teams were nationally ranked, revenues from souvenir sales have dropped from about $400,000 annually to $100,000, McCaw said.

Some women athletes said they wouldn't mind a more gender-neutral moniker. Others, including junior field hockey player Kristen Hopwood, who was a Minuteman in high school, supported the embattled symbol.

"I feel we don't have enough pride in what we are and where we came from," Hopwood said.

"The Minuteman is our most recognizable state symbol. Look at our quarter," said Pete Trovato, a sophomore hockey player from North Attleboro. The design for the state's quarter features a musket-toting Minuteman.

posted 05-15-2003 06:56 PM            

Wayyyyyyy too many people here are raising a stink about it.

The Minutemen are a part of history and may THEY ALWAYS be a part of history.

I don't see what the fuss is myself.

Take a trip to Lexington or Concord and you will see "Minuteman" everything.

The PC won't win this one.

I suggest all of those PC people take a trip to Minuteman National Park and learn some history.

Most likely if it were not for the Minutemen..our national sport would be Soccer and lunch would consist of smelly fish, french fries and warm beer.

---"More than 900 of the 1,100 men and women in Struzziero's class were World War II veterans, and he said many felt the Minuteman was an appropriate symbol for the state university in the place where the American Revolution began. "---

Well put!

There are NO wolves in Massachusetts by the way.