Emory & Henry University
Virginia
A small Virginia college got its nickname from Knoxville sportswriters who watched it hold off Tennessee with striped socks and a swarming defense.
The teams at Emory and Henry are called the Wasps, and the name came from a newspaper in another state. The story goes that the football team played its first game at Neyland Stadium, against Tennessee. Tennessee was heavily favored. At halftime the Volunteers led by only six points, and the reason was the defense in front of them. Knoxville writers reached for a comparison and landed on wasps, describing a team that swarmed and would not let go, the way wasps defend a nest. The players helped the image along. They wore blue and gold striped socks, with matching stripes across the chest and sleeves of their jerseys. The name stuck. The university now fields more than twenty teams under it, from equestrian to rugby, and the mascot is still a wasp.
This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
The local Knoxville newspapers described the college team as the "Wasps" because of the tenacious and swarming defense they displayed, akin to the persistence of wasps in protecting their nest.
Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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