What is an Illini? Explaining history of Illinois basketball nickname
Watch the NCAA Tournament and you will come across some interesting team nicknames, some of which will cause curiosity about their origin.
Teams such as the Illinois Fighting Illini, for example.
REQUIRED READING:How the Bradley Braves fared in Missouri Valley basketball awards ahead of Arch Madness
Brad Underwood’s Fighting Illini (26-8, 14-6 in Big Ten play) are slated as the No. 3 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament. They will take on No. 14 seed Morehead State in the first round of March Madness.
Though Illinois has appeared in four straight NCAA Tournaments under coach Underwood, the Illini have yet to make it past the first weekend. Illinois lost to Arkansas 73-63 in the first round last year. But more to the point:
FOLLOW THE MADNESS: NCAA tournament brackets, scores, schedules, teams and more.
What exactly is an Illini? As Illinois looks to make a run through the 2024 NCAA Tournament, here’s everything you need to know about their name, including its history and origin:
Why is Illinois called the Illini?
According to the University of Illinois archives, the term “Fighting Illini” is believed to be first associated with one of Illinois’ athletic teams in January of 1911 in a basketball article.
The archive wrote: “Appearing in a January 29, 1911 account of basketball game with Purdue, the earliest use of ‘fighting Illini’ applied ‘fighting’ more as a simple adjective describing the team’s efforts (albeit unsuccessful ones) just before the end of the first half. However, by March 3, 1911, the team appears have earned ‘fighting Illini’ as a formal appellation evidenced in the newspaper report: ‘Only a small crowd turned out to see our fighting Illini chase the Gophers back to their holes.'”
It became the official nickname for all of Illinois’ athletic teams later that March, as aforementioned in the clip from the university’s archives.
What is an Illini?
Illinois, which was founded in 1867, has history with the Native American culture. As for the origin and what the term “Illini” is, it is in reference to the Native American tribe “Illiniwek” which was the name of the Fighting Illini mascot until it was discontinued in 2005.
The Illiniwek tribe, or Illini, was made up of 12 to 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley spanning from Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas.
What is Illinois’ mascot?
The Illini used to have a mascot named Chief Illiniwek from 1926 through its retirement in 2007. The mascot was portayed by a member of the student body. In 2005, the NCAA cited Chief Illiniwek as one of 19 mascots that were “hostile or abusive” in a policy banning schools from the postseason so long as they used such mascots.
Illinois formally retired Illiniwek in 2007, and have not replaced him with an official mascot since. One option to replace him in recent years as been the unofficial Kingfisher mascot.
