Why is wichita state the shockers

Wichita State, according to the school's athletic website, is named the Shockers because of the practice of "shocking" harvesting wheat in Kansas. In the school's early days, most student athletes earned college money working all Summer in the fields harvesting and threshing wheat.

In , the nickname "Wheat Shockers" was used for the first time for the basketball team. Kansas is still considered the "wheat state" and Sedgewick County, where Wichita is located, is the largest wheat producing county in the state.

Eventually, the name was shortened simply to the Shockers. And the costumed mascot? The mascot depicts a shock, or bundle, of wheat. In , the student who won a contest to design a Shockers mascot said that "the school needed a mascot who gave a tough impression Kirk Class of , a football manager, invented the name "Wheat Shockers" for posters to advertise a game against the Chilocco Indians.

Kirk had put the word "Indians" under the name Chilocco and a press agent for the Wichita Fall Festival, helping to publicize the contest, demanded that Kirk should produce a nickname for Fairmount to balance the poster.

In those days, when wheat was shocked or headed, the majority of the players earned a stake for college expenses by working all summer in the harvest and threshing and came back tough enough to play minute games. Although the name was never officially adopted, it caught on, was combined into one word, and survived until it was shortened to "Shockers" as Wichita State teams are known today. For you. World globe An icon of the world globe, indicating different international options.

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