NC State Mascots, Colors, Team Names, and Symbols

The original Alma Mater song was written by A. E. Escott, although it was replaced as the official alma mater of the college in 1925.

The football, basketball, and baseball teams had bulldog mascots named "Togo" and "Tige."

The monogram showing the letter "S" in block style with the letters "N" and "C" nestled within the spaces first appeared in the Agromeck.

When the school changed its name to North Carolina State College, the AMC logo was replaced by a new NSC monogram in 1918. The monogram eventually changed into the Block S logo that is still in use today.

Previously known as the "Techs," the basketball team became known as the "Red Terrors."

Class of 1923 alumni Alvin M. Fountain and Bonnie Frank Norris composed the Alma Mater song. They were both in the university's ROTC program. The alma mater used more recently was an abridged version, arranged by former music department chair Dr. Robert A. Barnes in the early 1960s.

The marching band began to wear red and white uniforms when performing at athletic events.

Chancellor J. W. Harrelson asked students to suggest a new name for the sports teams. He disliked the term Wolfpack because of connotations with World War II German U-boat formations. Student voted overwhelmingly, however, to keep the name.

Mechanical engineering student Ira Helms Jr. created a robot-like Wolfpack mascot costume (see Technician, Vol. 27 No. 10, November 29, 1946 for photograph) worn to football games during the 1946 season. One student wore the costume while another walked behind with a "remote control" that appeared to control the robot's movements.

All NC State athletics teams adopted Wolfpack as the official name. Previously, only the football team was called the Wolfpack, and other sports teams were called the Red Terrors and a variety of other names.

Students brought a live timber wolf to football games to roam the sidelines. UPI called the animal a "sniping and snarling bundle of fur." It was eventually sold to a traveling animal show.

During the 1950s, cheerleaders began to dress in a wolf costume at sporting events, and members of the Red Coat Marching Band wore fiberglass wolf heads as some of the earliest known student mascots for NC State.

The first student mascot was introduced by the cheerleading squad in the early 1960s in a wolf costume.

Student government sold 25-cent shares to purchase a timber wolf, which was shown during the first game played at what became Carter-Finley Stadium. The animal howled, making it popular, but it was later discovered to be a coyote.

After the introduction of women's athletics to NC State, costumes were created for a woman version of the wolf mascot.

Junior varsity cheerleader Elizabeth Jan Seymour was the first woman chosen for the mascot formerly known as Miss Wolf. During Seymour's first game as mascot, the cheerleaders debuted their hand gesture now known as “wolf hands.”

Mr. Wolf and Ms. Wolf were married in a mock wedding ceremony by the Wake Forest Demon Deacon mascot during halftime of a Men's Basketball game at Reynolds Coliseum. The two were joined in "canis matrimonium," and Chancellor Joab Thomas gave the bride away.

The mascots’ names changed to “Wuf” when the male mascot, Scott Joseph, debuted a new body costume made by his mother. When she began sewing his name on the back of the jersey, she didn’t have enough room to spell “Wolf,” so she shortened it.

In 2006, Mr. Wuf was named the nation’s top mascot, and Mrs. Wuf was named top mascot the following year.

A Tamaskan dog named Tuffy became the new live mascot for football games. This breed of dog resembled the wolf-like Siberian husky.

The NC State Board of Trustees approved removing the word “Dixie” from the NC State Alma Mater and adding the word “Southern.”