Inside The Rebels - Ole Miss Rebels Football, Basketball, & Recruiting (2024)

FAQs

Will Ole Miss drop name rebels? ›

In response to the recent surge in national support for the Black Lives Matter movement, Ole Miss Esports publicly announced their removal of the name “Rebels” from their team and from all team-affiliated hashtags, making them the first university sports program to ever do so.

In 1936, Rebels was adopted as Ole Miss' official athletics nickname. The nickname arose from a naming contest sponsored by The Mississippian, a student newspaper. 42 newscasters were contacted, and 21 responded. "Rebels" proved a popular choice as 18 newscasters went with it.

The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893.

It's a response to a conquered challenge

Others say it derives from a cheer used throughout World War II, or from the description of a warm alcoholic drink, the “hot toddy.”

Mascot search

In 2003, Colonel Reb was removed from the sidelines at Ole Miss athletic events as the on-the-field mascot after facing criticism that the character was offensive and racially insensitive. A contest was held in which fans were invited to design a replacement.

mascot had no connection to the Confederacy, but he was not excluded from the controversy. The creator of Hey Reb!, Mike Miller, said in a 2011 interview that he was inspired by Western trailblazers of the 1800s that ventured into unexplored Nevada. “I believe the word 'rebel' represents an attitude or spirit.

With that being said, who should Ole Miss' three permanent rivalries be? The first two are likely no-brainers. Mississippi State and LSU are the Rebels' biggest rivals in football with long histories stretching back to before the division model in the SEC.

Replacing Rebel was Tony the Landshark, named after former Ole Miss linebacker Tony Fein, who started the landshark hand gesture that is still thrown by Ole Miss athletes across all sports today.

In tribute to Ole Miss legend Archie Manning, the speed limit on the University of Mississippi campus is 18 MPH in homage to Manning's retired jersey No. 18. He was named to the All-SEC team in 1969 and 1970 and was the Mississippi Sportsman of the Year and SEC Most Valuable Player in 1969.

Flam! Ole Miss, by D—n! Ever since, the cheer (with slightly differing spelling in the opening line) has been passed down by Rebel fans. ESPN's Doug Ward wrote, “'Hotty Toddy' is the spirit of Ole Miss,” which extends much farther than the Grove and at athletics.

Is Ole Miss mascot still the Rebels? ›

Rebel may have won the vote, but he did not win the hearts of Ole Miss fans. In 2017, then-Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter announced the university's choice to replace the black bear with Tony the Landshark in the 2018 football season.

Its 1997 “stick ban” was viewed as a slick way of getting Confederate flags out of football games without irking alumni. UM booted its mascot, Colonel Reb, six years later. It stopped flying the Confederate-themed state flag in 2015. It quit playing “Dixie” at games.