U. of North Carolina Charlotte 49ers
In 1946 the Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina opened to educate returning World War II veterans. It was struggling to survive a couple years later when Bonnie Cone and her supporters wanted Charlotte to have a public institutions of higher education and advocated saving the institution, naming it Charlotte College, in 1949.
Supposedly, it was in honor of this defining year (1949), and the pioneering spirit of Miss Bonnie, that the University eventually adopted the nickname “49ers.” It was said that Cone and/or people who admired her, encouraged use of the 49ers because the 1849 California Gold Rush settlers were people who fought through hardships, a term that embodied the resilient new university.
However, based on the above picture of Charlotte College being founded in 1946, I think the reference to the 1849 Gold Rush seems more likely. It is worth noting that the first Gold Rush in the United States occurred in 1799 less than 25 miles away from UNC-Charlotte campus. This discovered led to the Carolina Gold Rush of 1802! There were a couple references to this also influencing the 49ers name (although that really should have led to the 99ers!). My family and I toured this former gold mine (Reed Gold Mine) when we lived in North Carolina in the 2000s.
In 1965, when the North Carolina Legislature voted to transform Charlotte College into the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the vote tally was 49-0 – matching the University’s newly embraced mascot. Evidently, Ike Belk, the found of the at one time well-known Belk department store decided to abstain to honor the college’s nickname. Lastly, UNC Charlotte’s entrance at their primary campus is located on Highway 49.
The “49ers” nickname was not formally adopted until 1961 after a student vote. Before 1961, the school played as the “Owls,” reflecting its origins as a night school.
Long Beach State 49ers
In an interesting similarity, the only other college to have a number in it’s mascot name, had the same 2 reasons for selecting the mascot. The Long Beach State University was called the 49ers because 1949 was the year the school was founded and it was a reference to the California Gold Rush.
However, in 2014, Long Beach decided to shift their mascot to “The Beach” or just “Beach”. The change came because even though the founder, Pete Peterson, had nothing to do 1849 California Gold Rush, the school mascot was called Prospector Pete (after Peterson). Peterson, when founding the school in 1949 had indicated that the college had “struck the gold of education” when created (The Los Angeles Times.)
However, over time, Prospector Pete became increasingly compared to the 1849 California Gold Rush, which led to the death of more than 80 percent of the state’s Native American population in the following 20 years (Long Beach Press-Telegram.) That led to the 49er’s mascot’s official retirement in 2018.
In 2018, the school president, Jane Close Conoley, stated, “As our diversity grew and more voices were heard, we came to know that the 1849 California gold rush was a time in history when the indigenous peoples of California endured subjugation, violence and threats of genocide and today’s Beach is not connected to that era.”
Evidently, the extent of this historical awareness and effort to reduce potential pain connected to the suffering of the Native American’s at that time has not risen to a level of concern at the University of Charlotte. If it does, it could lead to the end of any college connected to a number in its mascot (which is not a bad thing.) We still have the Philadephia 76ers of the NBA and the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL – who would also seem to be not as interested in being as sensitive as Long Beach State has with their former 49er mascot.
Finally, Long Beach State’s shift from the 49ers to the “Beach Athletics” quickly led to the Long Beach State teams being called The Beach or Beach – which you may notice lead to my list of the 10 universities in the nation that have mascots that don’t end in an “S”.
Deep Thoughts on Higher Ed and Life 