The nickname first took hold in 1914 as a salute to a fiery player on the school’s football team. Fullback Leonard K. “Teddy” Baehr impressed UC fans so much during a game against Kentucky, that a cheerleader created a chant that “They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side.”
Duke got their Blue Devils name from being inspired by a French military group that used it as their nickname. Prior to that, they were the Blue and White or Methodists, going back to their days as Trinity.