Nevada Wolf Pack

Nevada Wolf Pack - History

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"The Wolf Pack"
The Nevada Wolf Pack, one of only two teams nationally to use the designation (North Carolina State is the other, though they use Wolfpack as one word while Nevada uses two words with a capital 'P'), has been using the Wolf Pack designation since at least the early 1920s.

Nevada's first athletic teams in the late 1890s and early 1900s were referred to as the Sagebrushers or even the Sage Hens
Nevada football historyafter Nevada's state flowering plant, the sagebrush. There are references in print to the 'Sage Warriors', although none of these names were the official mascot of Nevada's athletic teams.

The Sierra Nevada mountains, located immediately to the west of Reno and prominent on the city's skyline, were and still are the home to numerous wild wolves. Residents and university students were familiar with the animal.

In the 1921-22 athletic season, a local writer described the spirited play of a Nevada team as a 'pack of wolves'. The name stuck and soon almost every reference to the athletic teams was the Nevada Wolves. In 1923, the students officially designated 'Wolves' as the school's mascot.
 
   

Since all teams are a group of players, the word pack followed quickly. In 1928-29, the Nevada student handbook referred to the athletic teams as Wolf Pack and two school songs were adopted, entitled 'The Wolf Pack' and 'Here Comes the Wolf Pack'.

Fremont Cannon
The Fremont Cannon, college football's largest and most expensive "trophy," is now over 30 years old and is the prize sought after when two in-state rivals, The University of Nevada and UNLV, meet each fall in football.

Nevada's two university football teams annually play for the right to house the mountain howitzer each season. Today's cannon is a replica of a gun that accompanied Captain John C. Fremont on his expedition through Oregon, Nevada and California in 1843-44.

The replica cannon was constructed in 1970 as the gift of the Nevada Mines Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation to the students of the two campuses of the University of Nevada. It was built from engineering and technical drawings from the military archives of the United States Army.

The Wolf Pack won the first game between the universities in 1969, but the Rebels were the first team to capture the cannon in 1970 by a score of 42-20. Today the victor fires the cannon every time it scores at home.

The cannon is perhaps the most symbolic trophy for state championship rivalries in the country and as much a part of the football tradition as the game itself. The Fremont Cannon is such a monumental trophy that Cashell Fieldhouse had a spot built specifically for it.

Fight Song
"Hail, Sturdy Men!"

Hail to our sturdy men, loyal and true,
March, march on down that field, O' Silver and Blue.
We'll give a long cheer for Nevada's men,
See them break through again.
Fighting for our own U of N--to victory!
Hurrah, hurray, hurrah, hurray--NEVAAAA-DA!
We'll give a long cheer for Nevada's men,
See them break through again,
Fighting for our own U of N--to victory!

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