Editing Northwestern University (section)

=== Nickname and mascot ===
[[File:20180206 UM-NW Willie the Wildcat 7DM27163.jpg|thumb|Northwestern University Mascot: [[Willie the Wildcat (Northwestern)|Willie the Wildcat]]]]Before 1924, Northwestern teams were known as "The Purple" and unofficially as "The Fighting Methodists." The name Wildcats was bestowed upon the university in 1924 by Wallace Abbey, a writer for the [[Chicago Daily Tribune]], who wrote that even in a loss to the University of Chicago, "Football players had not come down from Evanston; wildcats would be a name better suited to [Coach Glenn] [[Glenn Thistlethwaite|Thistlethwaite]]'s boys."<ref>{{cite news |last=Abbey |first=Wallace |date=November 16, 1924 |title=Maroons beat Purple by a Dropkick |pages=A1 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1924/11/16/page/25/article/maroons-beat-purple-by-dropkick |access-date=May 22, 2015 |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017001259/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1924/11/16/page/25/article/maroons-beat-purple-by-dropkick/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The name was so popular that university board members made "Wildcats" the official nickname just months later. In 1972, the student body voted to change the official nickname to "Purple Haze," but the new name never stuck.<ref>{{cite news |last=Damer |first=Roy |date=April 18, 1972 |title=Purple Haze Won't Go Away At N.U. |newspaper=Chicago Tribune}}</ref>

The mascot of Northwestern Athletics is [[Northwestern's Willie the Wildcat|Willie the Wildcat]]. Prior to Willie, the team mascot had been a live, caged bear cub from the [[Lincoln Park Zoo]] named Furpaw, who was brought to the playing field on game days to greet the fans. After a losing season, the team decided that Furpaw was to blame for its misfortune and decided to select a new mascot. Willie the Wildcat made his debut in 1933, first as a logo and then in three dimensions in 1947, when members of the Alpha Delta fraternity dressed as wildcats during a Homecoming Parade.