What is a Blazer? UAB basketball nickname, dragon mascot, explained
University of Alabama at Birmingham basketball — or UAB, as it's more commonly known — is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in a matter of years.
And in the lead-up to UAB's first-round game against 5 seed San Diego State in the March Madness, you might find yourself asking yourself — what is a Blazer? Sure, the common response would be the piece of clothing that you wear to a work or dinner event. But that's not the case here.
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The Blazers (23-11, 12-6 American), who are coming off a win vs. Temple in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday, are led in scoring by junior forward Yaxel Lendeborg who is averaging 13.9 points per game this season.
It is the first time UAB is in March Madness as a representative of the American Conference, as the Blazers joined the conference before this season after nearly three decades in Conference USA.
Here's the history of why UAB is called the Blazers:
Why is UAB's nickname the Blazers?
Time to go to history class:
In short, it represents a new "beginning" for UAB, dating back to the year before the 1978-79 college basketball season. That year served as the inaugural year for UAB's men's basketball program.
As with most new things in sports, UAB held a contest in which fans within the community were able to submit their name suggestions for UAB's mascot. According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Magazine, student Tommy Burns and a group of his friends are believed to have been part of the meetings for the UAB mascot nickname.
The magazine, who interviewed Burns for a piece on how UAB's nickname originated, wrote:
“We went around the room,” Burns says. “I came out with ‘Trailblazers,’ because the Portland Trailblazers were about to win the NBA championship. And somebody said no, because that would be too much like them, and it’s too long — it won’t fit on a marquee.
“This went on for a while,” Burns says. So he circled back around with a shortened version of his original suggestion: Blazers. “My thought was that this was the first team; they were blazing the trail,” Burns says.
The nickname of Blazers was officially voted as the nickname of UAB in January of 1978 by the campus community.
Other names were tossed around, including the nickname "Barons" — a reference to Birmingham's original baseball team, the Birmingham Barons, which had been extinct at the time of this 1978 meeting. The Barons, the now Double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, did not return until the 1981 season.
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Why is UAB's mascot a dragon?
UAB didn't always have a dragon as a mascot.
According to the university's library archives, the first mascot UAB had was a Viking named Blazer. He was quickly discontinued: Blazer, who was unveiled at a basketball game in 1993, was terminated before the football season after the mascot initially "scared children at basketball games." Others in the community thought the mascot, which looked like a Viking, was objectifying.
This led to Blaze the Dragon being born several years later, the ever-so friendly-looking dragon.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: UAB basketball nickname, explained: History behind Blazer, dragon mascot
