Northwestern Wildcats
WILDCATS
A Chicago Tribune writer’s description of a Northwestern defensive stand
in 1924 led to the nickname that the university has embraced since.
Wallace Abbey wrote about the Chicago boys being stopped dead by a
purple wall of Wildcats. Despite NU losing that game to Chicago followed
the next week by a loss to the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, the nickname
stuck. From that point on, all NU teams have carried the Wildcat name.