What’s in a Nickname?
The story of origins of Coastal’s endearing and enduring mascot
is a case of surivial of the fittest.
As we all know, Coastal’s athletic nickname and mascot, the Chanticleer,
is derived from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, one of the obligatory texts
in the college English lit canon. We are also aware – as was made clear
by the feather-ruffling controversy that arose last year when yet another
opinion survey was conducted to assess interest in changing the mascot
– that our Chauncey is a true survivor. What is not as widely known is
how and why we chose this sly, witty chick magnet with phenomenal
staying power to serve as the visual and attitudinal symbol of our ath-
letic program.
Cal F. Maddox, now retired and living in Columbia, taught English at
Coastal for three years beginning in 1962, the year the present campus
opened. Coastal was then a two-year branch campus of the University
of South Carolina with just under 100 students and a faculty of 12.
There was no athletic department then, and when Coastal formed
a basketball team to compete in a regional league in 1963, Maddox
became the coach “sort of by default,” he says. “I was no coach, but
when Dick Singleton asked me to do it, I accepted.”
Maddox says he was coach enough to understand that, in order to
compete against seasoned teams such as Pembroke State and USC
Spartanburg, his young team would have to rely on something other
than physical strength or at the collegiate level. Just as Chaucer’s
rooster was saved from the hungry fox by his quick wit – plus the aid
of Pertelote the hen and the old farm woman – Coastal players would
have to use their heads and support one another very closely as a team.
“As it happened, most of our guys were good players and very
bright,” says Maddox. “Many of them – Jimbo McLaurin, Dorn Back-
man, Richard Hawes, Worth Dudley, Seth Williams and others – had
played in high school and had had the benefit of some good tutelage.”
Eschewing the man-to-man defensive approach, Maddox and his
team focused on zone defense. “The guys knew how to position them-
selves and did it naturally,” says Maddox. “We also enjoyed the benefit
THE ANATOMY OF THE MASCOT
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