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The Demon Deacon is the mascot of Wake Forest University, a school located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Probably best known for its slightly unorthodox name and appearance, the Demon Deacon has become a mainstay in the world of U.S. college mascots.
The origins of Wake Forest's mascot are distinctive, yet somewhat debated. As early as 1895, Wake Forest College (as it was called at the time) was using its colors in athletic competition. The school's literary magazine, The Wake Forest Student, described them in this manner:
At last, Wake Forest has a college badge. It is a very neat button designed by Mr. John M. Heck and contains a tiger's head over the letters WFC. The colors are in old gold and black. [1]
During the early part of the 20th century, these colors became more and more associated with the college. Since Wake Forest was founded as a Baptist college, some historians have proposed an association with the Bible, but most people believe their adoption comes from the connection with the original tiger mascot.
The tiger mascot stayed with the school for a little more than two decades, but reports indicate that by the early 1920s, the college's nicknames were most commonly noted as the "Baptists", or "The Old Gold & Black".
The first few decades of the 20th century were particularly rough for the Wake Forest athletic squads, but in 1923, Hank Garrity took the head football and basketball coaching jobs. His leadership gave the school a short relief from its early mediocrity when he led the football team to three consecutive winning seasons, and the basketball team compiled a 33-14 combined record in two seasons.
In 1923, the Wake Forest football team defeated rival Trinity (later renamed Duke University). In the following issue of the school newspaper, the editor of the paper, Mayon Parker (1924 Wake Forest graduate), first referred to the team as "Demon Deacons", in recognition of what he called their "devilish" play and fighting spirit. Henry Belk, Wake Forest's news director, and Garrity liked the title and used it often, so the popularity of the term grew.
The actual mascot made its first appearance in 1941. As the "Demon Deacon" terminology became more popular, Jack Baldwin (1943 Wake Forest graduate) became the first Deacon mascot.
"Some of my fraternity brothers and I were just sitting around one evening," Baldwin recalls, "and came to the agreement that what Wake Forest needed was someone dressed like a deacon -- top hat, tails, a black umbrella and all that. We wanted him to be more dignified than other mascots, sort of like an old Baptist Deacon would dress." [1]
Baldwin found an old tuxedo and a top hat, and on the following Saturday, he led the Wake Forest football team onto the field, riding the North Carolina ram. Two years later, when Baldwin graduated, many interested students were willing to continue dressing up as the mascot. Initially, the responsibility to pick new Demon Deacons fell on Baldwin's fraternity, but later it broadened to include all students. Today, special tryouts are held annually for new Deacons, and the competition is very intense.
A number of years later the mascot continued to be the Demon Deacon, but the full body was designed after a fan and student named "Doc" Murphrey. If he wasn't going to become a star on the football field, he would become the biggest fan the school had ever seen. "We were playing against Carolina, and the fans started hollering, 'We want Murphrey. We want Murphrey.' Peahead got tired of it and hollered, 'Murphrey, come here.' And I said, 'Coach, who do I go in for?' And he said, 'No damn body. They want you and I don't want you, so get up there with them.' I started right then and there being a cheerleader, not really a cheerleader, but just a guy who would get up when you needed somebody to rally the troops." [2]
Over the years, the Deacon has performed numerous memorable stunts:
Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, has been located north of downtown Winston-Salem since the university moved there in 1956.
Old gold is a dark yellow, which varies from light olive or olive brown to deep or strong yellow, generally on the darker side of this range.
George Edward "Skip" Prosser was an American college basketball coach who was head men's basketball coach at Wake Forest University at the time of his death. He was the only coach in NCAA history to take three separate schools to the NCAA tournament in his first year coaching the teams. In 21 years as a collegiate coach, he made 18 postseason appearances.
The Old Gold & Black is the student-run newspaper of Wake Forest University, named after the school's colors. The newspaper was founded in 1916 and is published in print every other Thursday, with the exception of school holidays and exam weeks. The Old Gold & Black's office is located on the fifth floor of the Benson University Center on Wake Forest's main campus.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team represents Wake Forest University in the sport of American football. The Demon Deacons compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Wake Forest plays its home football games at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium and is coached by Dave Clawson.
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Wake Forest University, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team represents Wake Forest University in NCAA Division I college basketball and competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Through the years, the program has produced many NBA players, among them are Hall of Famer Tim Duncan, 12× All-Star Chris Paul, 1× All-Star Jeff Teague, Sixth Man of the Year Rodney Rogers, and 1× All-Star Josh Howard. The Demon Deacons have won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament four times, in 1961, 1962, 1995, and 1996. Wake Forest has appeared in 23 NCAA tournaments, most recently appearing in 2017. The current coach is Steve Forbes, who was hired on April 30, 2020.
The 1917 Wake Forest Baptists football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest College as an independent during the 1917 college football season. In their first year under head coach E. T. MacDonnell, the team compiled a 1–6–1 record.
The 1923 Wake Forest Baptists football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University during the 1923 college football season. In its first season under head coach Hank Garrity, the team compiled a 6–3 record. After a particularly impressive win against Trinity College, in the following issue of the school newspaper, the editor of the paper, Mayon Parker, first referred to the team as "Demon Deacons," in recognition of what he called their "devilish" play and fighting spirit. Henry Belk, Wake Forest's news director, and Garrity liked the title and used it often, so the popularity of the term grew.
The 1924 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University during the 1924 college football season. In its second season under head coach Hank Garrity, the team compiled a 7–2 record.
The 1925 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team was an American football team that represented Wake Forest University as an independent during the 1925 college football season. In its third season under head coach Hank Garrity, the team compiled a 6–2–1 record and outscored opponents by a total of 185 to 40.
The 2010 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team represented Wake Forest University during the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Jim Grobe, who was coaching his tenth season at the school, and played its home games at BB&T Field. Wake Forest competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as they have since the league's inception in 1953. They finished the season 3–9, 1–7 in ACC play.
Many American sports team names and mascots are based upon or use religious symbolism. The majority are scholastic teams at institutions founded by various denominations of Christianity, both Catholic and Protestant. Saints is the most popular of these names not only at religious schools but public schools. However, the latter are often indirect, the schools being located in places named for saints. The only team name that has become controversial is Crusaders, many having changed in recent years. The term, once associated with protectors of the faith is now also associated with oppression. Many Christian schools use "Knights" as their team names with imagery similar to crusaders, but it is difficult to establish religious symbolism in these cases. There are also a number of teams whose name includes demons or devils, which are mythological creatures from many cultures. However, the devil imagery in sports used by professional sports teams as well as public and non-sectarian schools are an example of the Devil in the arts and popular culture more than religion. There are also a few team identities based upon Norse mythology in popular culture.
Taylor H. Sanford was an American baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head baseball coach at Randolph–Macon College from 1942 to 1949 and at Wake Forest University from 1951 to 1955. He led the Wake Forest Demon Deacons baseball team to the 1955 College World Series championship. Sanford's Demon Deacons also made up the United States national team at several Pan American Games.
The 2013 Wake Forest Demon Deacons football team represented Wake Forest University during the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Jim Grobe, who coached his 13th season at the school, and played its home games at BB&T Field. Wake Forest competed in the Atlantic Coast Conference, as they have since the league's inception in 1953, and were in the Atlantic Division. They finished the season 4–8, 2–6 in ACC play to finish in sixth place in the Atlantic Division.
The Tiger is the mascot of the Clemson Tigers, the athletic teams of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. The anthropomorphized tiger is costumed in Acrylic/polyester fur, and in recent years wears a football, basketball, or baseball jersey or a T-shirt. The Tiger has a smaller companion, The Cub, who wears shorts, oversized sneakers, and a jersey numbered 1⁄2.
The NC State–Wake Forest rivalry is a series of athletic contests between in-state rivals, the North Carolina State University Wolfpack and the Wake Forest University Demon Deacons. The first game was played in 1895 between the two institutions. Wake Forest was originally located in Wake Forest, North Carolina until it moved its campus across the state of North Carolina to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956. The two universities are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, where they meet every year in football due to being aligned in the Atlantic Division. The schools play each other twice in basketball every season, due to being primary partners.
Gore Gymnasium was an on-campus gymnasium at Wake Forest College in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The gym opened in 1935 as the home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team. The gymnasium served the Deacons for twenty seasons before the entire school moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1956. It was in this gym that Wake's first two tournament teams, the 1939 Elite Eight squad and the 1953 Sweet Sixteen squad, played their home games. Prior to its construction, the team had played most of its games at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, because the original gym was too small.
The 2019–20 Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's basketball team represented Wake Forest University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Demon Deacons were led by sixth-year head coach Danny Manning and played their home games at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.