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"The
Wolf Pack"
The Nevada Wolf Pack, one of only two teams nationally to use the
designation (North Carolina State is the other, though they use Wolfpack
as one word while Nevada uses two words with a capital 'P'), has been
using the Wolf Pack designation since at least the early 1920s.
Nevada's first athletic teams in the late 1890s and early 1900s were
referred to as the Sagebrushers or even the Sage Hens
 after Nevada's
state flowering plant, the sagebrush. There are references in print to
the 'Sage Warriors', although none of these names were the official
mascot of Nevada's athletic teams.
The Sierra Nevada mountains, located immediately to the west of Reno and
prominent on the city's skyline, were and still are the home to numerous
wild wolves. Residents and university students were familiar with the
animal.
In the 1921-22 athletic season, a local writer described the spirited
play of a Nevada team as a 'pack of wolves'. The name stuck and soon
almost every reference to the athletic teams was the Nevada Wolves. In
1923, the students officially designated 'Wolves' as the school's
mascot.
Since all teams are a group of players, the word pack followed quickly.
In 1928-29, the Nevada student handbook referred to the athletic teams
as Wolf Pack and two school songs were adopted, entitled 'The Wolf Pack'
and 'Here Comes the Wolf Pack'.
Fremont Cannon
The Fremont Cannon, college football's largest and most expensive
"trophy," is now over 30 years old and is the prize sought after when
two in-state rivals, The University of Nevada and UNLV, meet each fall
in football.
Nevada's two university football teams annually play for the right to
house the mountain howitzer each season. Today's cannon is a replica of
a gun that accompanied Captain John C. Fremont on his expedition through
Oregon, Nevada and California in 1843-44.
The replica cannon was constructed in 1970 as the gift of the Nevada
Mines Division of Kennecott Copper Corporation to the students of the
two campuses of the University of Nevada. It was built from engineering
and technical drawings from the military archives of the United States
Army.
The Wolf Pack won the first game between the universities in 1969, but
the Rebels were the first team to capture the cannon in 1970 by a score
of 42-20. Today the victor fires the cannon every time it scores at
home.
The cannon is perhaps the most symbolic trophy for state championship
rivalries in the country and as much a part of the football tradition as
the game itself. The Fremont Cannon is such a monumental trophy that
Cashell Fieldhouse had a spot built specifically for it.
Fight Song
"Hail, Sturdy Men!"
Hail to our sturdy men, loyal and true,
March, march on down that field, O' Silver and Blue.
We'll give a long cheer for Nevada's men,
See them break through again.
Fighting for our own U of N--to victory!
Hurrah, hurray, hurrah, hurray--NEVAAAA-DA!
We'll give a long cheer for Nevada's men,
See them break through again,
Fighting for our own U of N--to victory!
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