HERO Sports is counting down the 100 days until the kickoff of the 2018 college football season on Saturday, Aug. 25, with daily trivia. Each day, from May 17 through Aug. 24, we'll publish one college football trivia question.
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Arkansas State is no longer one of the younger teams in the FBS, but they are one of only a small group of active FBS teams that have changed their nickname in the last couple decades.
Arkansas State selected the Red Wolves nickname in 2008 because the red wolf, "a noble species that once inhabited" Arkansas and is, as the school said in announcing the name 10 years ago, "vicious" and "aggressive."
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What was Arkansas State's nickname before Red Wolves?
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Answer
Indians
Indians became Arkansas State's official nickname in 1931, picked in honor of the Osage tribe, who made its home in the area before European settlers arrived.
"During the 18th century, the Osage were at war with nearly all other tribes of the plains as well as with the woodland tribes. "For that reason, the name evolved from respect for the fighting spirit which dwelled among the Indians of Northern Arkansas."
On Jan. 31, 2008 — after the NCAA first issued guidelines for "use of Native American mascots at championship events" — Arkansas State, specifically a group called the Mascot Selection Steering Committee, voted to change the nickname to Wolves. "Red" was added soon thereafter and the all the school's athletic teams have been called the Red Wolves since.
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