The Legend of the Fighting Okra Since the establishment of Delta State University in 1924, the Statesman has always been the official mascot. Around the late 1980’s some of the baseball and basketball players grew suspicious that this mascot did not “represent” Delta State or “intimidate” the opposing teams that they were to take on. After all, a mascot is supposed to be intimidating, right? The Statesman just was not making the cut for these athletes. They thought hard to create a picture in their head for what could accurately describe the teams. A potential mascot was maybe the Fighting Algae. The color of algae fit but some of the mates were not sure if they were ready to be called “Pond Scum” by the opponents (Mizell,2004). That’s when Bob …show more content…
OKRA! OKRA!” Unfortunately, the baseball players were removed from the game but the chant stuck and eventually so did the fighting okra. After becoming so popular, the college students put a face to the Fighting Okra which was mean and always ready for a fight. The first official mascot costume was from a male student who took a green sleeping bag and sewed into the Fighting Okra (The History Tavern, 2011). Delta State refused to adopt the Fighting Okra as the official mascot. In the 1990’s the students came together electing to adopt the Fighting Okra as Delta State University’s unofficial mascot (The History Tavern, 2011). There are many myths and legends that folks have passed on about the origin of the Fighting Okra. The first one to usually pop in a Cleveland resident’s head is the story of the little okra growing on the baseball field. The baseball team realized that every time they visited the field there was an okra peeking its way about home base. Every time that the okra was removed and the night had gone by, the players saw the okra in the exact same spot at the morning practice (The History Tavern,