Hokie Bird
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The HokieBird is the official mascot of Virginia Tech. It is turkey-like bird that closely resembles a "maroon cardinal with a snood."[citation needed]
[edit] Gobblers
Virginia Tech's first mascot/nickname was the "Gobblers". The origin of the "Gobblers" moniker is found in the early history of Virginia Tech when it was a military college known as the Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College (VAMC). As future military officers and gentlemen, cadets were not allowed to look at their plates as they ate. To do so was termed "gobbling" your food and was a cause for punishment. Athletes were given increased portions of food and in consideration of the limited meal time, were allowed to "gobble" their meals. Because of this, the sports teams for VAMC became renowned as "The Fighting Gobblers".
The name was popular when Floyd "Hard Times" Meade, a local resident, had a large turkey pull a decorated cart before football games. Meade paraded the mascot around the stadium during the game, and even trained it to gobble on command. This tradition continued after another "turkey trainer" took over in 1924.[citation needed]
Fans and sports writers adopted the "Gobbler" nickname and began to use it to describe the team. In 1936, a costumed Gobbler joined the live gobbler for at least one game. The use of a live turkey mascot continued well into the 1950s, and the first permanent costumed Gobbler took the field in the fall of 1962. The gobbling tradition continues today as a recording of a turkey gobble is played during football games to the excitement of the crowd.
[edit] Hokies and HokieBird
However, "Gobbler" nickname was not to last, at least not as the official nickname/mascot.
In the late 1970s, the university hired a new football coach who heard that the Gobbler mascot was based on athletes gobbling their food down, so he began promoting the "Hokie" nickname and even removed the gobbler from the scoreboard. Coach Frank Beamer had it reinstalled.
In 1982, the appearance of the Gobbler mascot costume was changed to one that looked like a maroon turkey with an orange beak. People started to call it the "the Hokie mascot," "the Hokie," and "the HokieBird."
The costume worn by today's HokieBird made its first appearance in 1987. The HokieBird has won national mascot competitions and has been so popular that the mascot landed an appearance on Animal Planet's "Turkey Secrets," shown annually around Thanksgiving.
Now, when referring to Virginia Tech, the term "Hokie" generally refers to a Virginia Tech Student.
[edit] Traditions
- The HokieBird is an active supporter of all Virginia Tech athletic teams, particularly the Virginia Tech Football and Basketball Teams.
- Before games, he leads the charge onto the field as students jump up and down in the stands to Metallica's "Enter Sandman".
- After scores, the VT cheerleaders carry out a bench and weights for the HokieBird to perform bench presses. He does one press for every point VT has scored. Sometimes, in lieu of bench presses, the HokieBird has done situps or pushups.
- The HokieBird has also been known to crowd surf from the bottom of the student section all the way to the top of the stadium.
- At the graduation ceremony, students who portray the HokieBird are allowed to wear the giant orange bird feet. In theory, no one is supposed to know who the HokieBirds are until graduation day.
