Testudo, a diamondback terrapin, is the mascot of the University of Maryland, College Park and represents the university both at sporting events and as a more general symbol. Testudo has served as the school's mascot since the 1930s, and several statues of the terrapin exist on the school's campus.
In 1932, Curley Byrd—who served as the university's football and baseball coach, athletic director, and president—proposed adopting the diamondback terrapin as a mascot. The first statue of Testudo cast in bronze was donated by the Class of 1933 and displayed on Baltimore Avenue in front of Ritchie Coliseum. However, the 300-pound sculpture was subjected to vandalism by visiting college athletic teams. [1] One such incident occurred in 1947 when students from Johns Hopkins University stole the bronze statue and moved it to their campus. Maryland students traveled to Baltimore to retrieve it, laying siege to the house where it was hidden. Over 200 city police responded to quell the riot. [2] In 1949, University President Byrd was awakened by a phone call from a University of Virginia fraternity requesting Testudo be removed from their lawn. Testudo was later filled with 700 pounds of cement and fastened to his pedestal to prevent future removals, but students at rival schools continued to vandalize it. It was moved to Maryland Stadium in 1951. In the 1960s, Testudo was moved back to a central spot in front of McKeldin Library. [3] [4] [5] [6]
In 1992 a duplicate statue was placed at Maryland Stadium, where the football team touches it for good luck as they pass by before games. Additional Testudo statues now sit outside of the Gossett Team House near the stadium; XFINITY Center, the school's basketball arena; the Riggs Alumni Center; in the lobby of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union; and on the courtyard of Van Munching Hall. [5] [7] In 1994, the Maryland General Assembly approved legislation to name the diamondback terrapin (malaclemys terrapin terrapin) as the official state reptile and the legally codified mascot of the University of Maryland. [8] Beginning in the 2000s, the university promoted the slogan "Fear the Turtle" as a rallying cry for school pride. [9]
The nose of the statue outside McKeldin Library is polished by passers-by that have rubbed it for good luck. [10] Around finals week, students start giving offerings to Testudo in the hope of good grades. [11] Offerings began as small items such as alcohol, books, clothing, coins, food, and even letters to Testudo himself. However, in recent years, offerings have become much larger, with students offering furniture items and even stolen campus property such as traffic cones, road signs, trash cans, electric scooters, and streetlamps ripped from the ground. [12] In 2013, the Testudo statue caught fire because of an ill-advised mixture of flammable offerings and a lit candle. Local news channels reported about this event and it trended on Twitter. [13] During the COVID-19 pandemic, campus guidelines included instructions to not rub the statue's nose unless using disinfectant wipes before and after to clean it. [14] [15]
A costumed version of Testudo represents the school at some sporting events both at home and away, including football and men's basketball. [16] [17] Students are put through a try-out process to "become" the mascot, the costume for which features an "M"-stamped turtle shell. [17]
Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin was an American politician. He was a member of the Republican Party, and served as mayor of Baltimore twice, from 1943 to 1947 and again from 1963 to 1967. McKeldin was the 53rd Governor of Maryland, from 1951 to 1959.
The Jones-Hill House is an indoor collegiate sports training complex located on 14.5 acres (5.9 ha) of land on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park, a suburb north of Washington, D.C. Jones-Hill House is situated in the center of the campus, adjacent to Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, near Stamp Student Union and McKeldin Library. The building was constructed between 1952 and 1955 at a cost of $3.3 million and served for nearly 50 years as the home court of the Maryland Terrapins men's and women's basketball teams. A multi-phase, $196 million renovation commenced in 2015 to transform the capacity 14,956-seat basketball arena into a 356,000-square-foot (33,100 m2) sports and academic complex that includes an indoor practice facility and operations center for the university's football program, a sports science and sports medical research center, and an incubator for entrepreneurs. The facility was formerly named the William P. Cole Jr. Student Activities Building, commonly known as Cole Field House. In April 2021, the facility was renamed in honor of Billy Jones and Darryl Hill, the first Black men to integrate basketball and football at Maryland, respectively.
The diamondback terrapin or simply terrapin is a species of turtle native to the brackish coastal tidal marshes of the East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico coast, as well as in Bermuda. It belongs to the monotypic genus Malaclemys. It has one of the largest ranges of all turtles in North America, stretching as far south as the Florida Keys and as far north as Cape Cod.
Harry Clifton "Curley" Byrd was an American university administrator, educator, athlete, coach, and politician. Byrd began a long association with the University of Maryland as an undergraduate in 1905, and eventually rose to the position of university president from 1936 to 1954.
The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an off-site storage facility, is located just outside campus, and the Priddy Library is located on the University System of Maryland satellite campus in Shady Grove.
The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I competition. Maryland was a founding member of the Southern Conference in 1921 and a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1952, and is now a member of the Big Ten Conference.
The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland, College Park in the sport of American football. The Terrapins compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Big Ten Conference. The Terrapins joined the Big Ten Conference on July 1, 2014, following 62 years in the Atlantic Coast Conference as a founding member. Mike Locksley is the head coach of the Terrapins.
The Diamondback is an independent student newspaper associated with the University of Maryland, College Park. It began in 1910 as The Triangle and became known as The Diamondback in 1921. Now a weekly online journal, The Diamondback was published as a daily print newspaper on weekdays until 2013. It is published by Maryland Media, Inc., a non-profit organization. The newspaper receives no university funding and derives its revenue from advertising.
Ludwig Field is an association football stadium located on the campus of the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park, Maryland. Since its opening in 1995, it has been the home of the Terrapin men's and women's soccer teams. The facility also includes a running track.
The University of Maryland, College Park is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland. It is also the largest university in both the state and the Washington metropolitan area. Its 12 schools and colleges offer over 200 degree-granting programs, including 92 undergraduate majors, 107 master's programs, and 83 doctoral programs. UMD is a member of the Association of American Universities and competes in intercollegiate athletics as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
The Crab Bowl Classic is the name given to the Maryland–Navy football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry between the Maryland Terrapins football team of the University of Maryland and the Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy. The two institutions, located in close proximity in the state of Maryland, first met for a football game in 1905. Since then, the series has often been marked by controversy, with incidents by players and supporters occurring both on and off the field. The winner of the game is awarded the Crab Bowl Trophy.
The Johns Hopkins–Maryland lacrosse rivalry is an intercollegiate rivalry between the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, which represent Johns Hopkins University, and the Maryland Terrapins, which represent the University of Maryland. The most prominent event has been the men's lacrosse series, which is widely regarded as one of the greatest rivalries in the sport. More than 115 contests in the series have been played since the schools first met in 1895. The competition is intensified by each program's status as a traditional lacrosse powerhouse. As such, the game has often held national championship implications, and twice the teams played to represent the United States in the Olympics.
The Mighty Sound of Maryland is the marching band of the University of Maryland. It was founded in 1908 at what was then known as the Maryland Agricultural College. The band performs pregame, halftime, and fifth-quarter shows at all Maryland Terrapins home football games, and travels to at least one away game each year.
The Maryland Terrapins baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of University of Maryland, College Park in College Park, Maryland, United States. The program's first season was in 1893, and it has been a member of the NCAA Division I Big Ten Conference since the start of the 2015 season. Its home venue is Shipley Field at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium, located on Maryland's campus. Matt Swope is the team's head coach starting in the 2024 season. The program has appeared in six NCAA tournaments. It has won one conference tournament championship and five regular season conference titles. As of the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season, 38 former Terrapins have appeared in Major League Baseball.
The Rossborough Inn is a historic building facing Baltimore Avenue/United States Route 1 on the eastern edge of the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park. Construction on the building began in 1798 and was completed in 1812, making it the oldest building on campus and the oldest building in the adjoining town of the City of College Park. It is built in the Federal style. The lower wings were added in 1938, as part of extensive renovations. The Rossborough Inn is listed as a historic site by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.
The 1999–2000 Maryland Terrapins men's basketball team represented the University of Maryland in the 1999–2000 college basketball season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The team was led by head coach Gary Williams and played their home games at the Cole Field House. They lost to UCLA in the 2000 NCAA tournament.
Maryland Day is an annual campus-wide family-oriented community outreach event and open house at the University of Maryland, College Park. It features demonstrations, performances, sports events, tours, hands-on activities, food, games, give-aways, and information about research, academics, student life, and other activities at the university and in the surrounding community.