Haverford College’s athletic department introduced its
first official athletic-specific logo at the start of the 2012-2013
academic year.
For most of the College’s history there were as many
variations on font, color combinations, nicknames and mascots as
there were teams. Greg Kannerstein, former director of athletics
who was eulogized as “Mr. Haverford” following his
untimely passing in 2009 explained the athletic department’s
nickname/mascot history best:
“Haverford was never the
Fighting Quakers or the Quakers at all. Haverford teams were
actually called the “Hornets” for some periods from the
late 1930s to the late 1950s after being known more often as
“The Red and Black” or “Scarlet and Black”
up to the 1930s. “Fords” came in that 1930–1950s
era too and eventually “Hornets” was used only by
sportswriters and then by no one. In the 1970s, the student
newspaper started calling the basketball team the “Red
Wave” and then that term expanded to all HC teams, but never
had official status.
At this stage, “Fords”
is the nickname and “Black Squirrel” is the mascot.
They are different. A mascot dresses in a costume, runs around like
an idiot, and is used as a logo for teams, has effigies made in its
shape, etc. A nickname is a nickname, for cheers, newspaper
stories, etc.
A lot of us think
“Fords” is pretty silly, and of course it does not lend
itself to representation as a mascot the way “Eagles,”
“Wildcats,” etc. do for some colleges. Some players on
the baseball team saw a lot of black squirrels (real ones, not
mascots) in the area of the baseball field years ago. They
attributed to the squirrels the characteristics of feistiness,
distinctiveness, energy and determination they wanted as their own
trademark. In the mid-1990s, the college actually made a decision:
the official nickname would remain “Fords,” Haverford
would adopt a mascot in the form of a Black Squirrel (and had a
costume made up which, however, resembled a chipmunk) and teams
would be free among themselves on campus to call themselves
whatever they wanted, be it Squirrels, Hornets, Bees, Goats, etc.
Public utterances of the institution must proclaim Fords as the
nickname, but if a “Go, Squirrels” chant is heard from
the sidelines, no one will be offended.”
Eager for consistency in identification across the department,
Director of Athletics Wendy Smith ’87 initiated a lengthy
collaborative process which included student-athletes, coaches,
athletic adminstrators and representatives of the Communications
Office. “I believe that our teams and student-athletes need
to represent Haverford and our athletic program in a uniform
manner. With the variety of H’s and other identifying marks
across 23 varsity teams, one would not know by looking that our
teams all represented the same institution. We are looking forward
to phasing in the new marks and creating an identity that will more
clearly promote our athletic program,” said Smith.
Phoenix Design Works, a professional marketing company in
Maplewood, N.J., designed the branding marks for Haverford’s
athletic teams. The primary logo is a word mark spelling out
Haverford Athletics in the College’s colors. Two
single-letter marks – one, a stand-alone “H” and
the other, an “H” embraced by the Fords’ mascot,
a Black Squirrel – complete the family of logos. Within these
marks is the opportunity to create sport-specific marks for each of
the 23 varsity teams.
