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Hokies is the official name of Virginia Tech's sports teams. Fans, students, and alumni of Virginia Tech are also referred to as Hokies. The Hokie Bird, is modeled on a large turkey, has been the official sport mascot of Virginia Tech since 1961. As an agricultural term, hokie refers to an emasculated domesticated turkey, though the Virginia Tech usage predates this usage by several decades.
Origins
According to the school handbook, the Hokies name originated in the 1890s. O.M. Stull, a member of the Class of 1896, coined the word "Hokie" as part of a spirit yell now known as the Old Hokie. "Hokie" was originally a nonsense word, having no specific meaning, used as an attention getter. Around 1908, Tech students began referring to student athletes as "Gobblers" because of the way they "gobbled" their ample servings of food. In 1913, a local boy serving as a clown mascot had a large turkey pull him in a cart at football games. From then on, fans and sportswriters associated the gobbler with Tech's athletic teams, and for many years the school's official name for its sports teams was the Fighting Gobblers; though the term Hokies was widely used, the official designation was only changed in the mid-1980s by then-football coach and athletic director Bill Dooley. A costumed Gobbler mascot (now the Hokie Bird) was introduced during games in 1962, and has been a symbol of school spirit ever since.
Agricultural usage
Later, the word "hokie" came into use as an American agricultural term referring to an emasculated turkey. Rival schools, primarily the University of Virginia, encouraged the use of this term. It has gained popularity in farming circles. The 4-H Animal Awareness Workbook, among other sources, refers to castrated male turkeys as "hokies".
The Virginia Tech usage predates the "castrated turkey" usage, the growth of which is a colorful episode in the lengthy and ongoing school rivalry between Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.
Other usage
A hokie is the manifestation of a jabroni. A jabroni is one who takes "the fall" for a more popular wrestler in a bout.
See also
External links
- Virginia Tech Lore (http://www.unirel.vt.edu/vthistory/hokie-explained.html) - Virginia Tech's official "What is a Hokie?" page
- Whence Hokie (http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~swvaroot/Hokie_Article.html) - A more thorough discussion by Edgar A. Howard (Virginia Tech Class of 1978)
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