The University of Akron is rich with athletic history. From John W. Heisman as a football coach to several players at the professional level, the University of Akron will be a force to be reckoned.

Jon W. Heisman

So how did Heisman end up in Akron?

After the 1892 season, the students again besieged the Reverend Orello Cone, Buchtel’s president since 1880, pleading with him to convince the Board of Trustees to hire someone to coach the college’s club teams. Cone pushed the measure through. The students’ first choice was Heisman, and they moved quickly to get him. The young coach was invited to campus in January, and after inspecting the facilities he spelled out the terms under which he would
render his services. At a meeting of the trustees' executive committee on January 28, 1893, the committee agreed to extend Heisman a one-year contract as “gymnasium director” and “special teacher of gymnastics in baseball and football.” The board not only agreed to pay Heisman $900, but to build a long-sought baseball cage – provided the students raised $300 toward Heisman’s salary and paid off the remaining salary of the previous gym director. The weekly student newspaper, The Buchtelite, ran the headline “HEISMAN! HEISMAN! Rah! Rah! Rah!”

Alas, John W. Heisman's association with Buchtel wasn't a long or especially satisfying one for him — the faculty and trustees got together and legislated his job out of existence. But it did have its moments. In 1894, when he technically wasn't even working for the college, Heisman engineered a 12-6 win over Ohio State. He played quarterback in the game to boot.

After retiring from coaching, Heisman served as the New York City Downtown Athletic Club's first athletic director, starting in 1930. The club awarded its first trophy to the nation’s top college football player in 1935 and renamed the trophy in memory of Heisman when he died a year later at age 66.

The Wagon Wheel

According to legend, the “Wagon Wheel” came into being in the spring of 1870 when John R. Buchtel, an Akron industrialist, at the insistence of Rev. Andrew Willson of the Kent Universalist Church, set out for Kent in search of a site for a proposed college. However, his
wagon became bogged down in the mud where Kent State University is currently located, the horses broke away and left bits and pieces of the carriage scattered, including one of the wheels, which remained wedged in the mud.

Buchtel eventually found his way back to Akron, where he settled on a site for Buchtel College, the forerunner of the present university.

During construction of a pipeline along the Western Reserve Trail in 1902, the wheel was discovered and eventually became the property of Dr. Raymond Manchester, who in 1945 as the Kent State Dean of Men, suggested the wheel be set up as an award to the winner of the annual Akron-Kent football game.

Manchester had the wheel painted blue and gold, the school colors of both schools, and it has been a prized trophy ever since. Each spoke bears a plaque verifying the score of each game.
In 1946, Kent defeated the Zips, 13-6, to capture the Wagon Wheel Trophy. After a Kent win in 1954, the series between the two schools went into hibernation. Not until Sept. 9, 1972, was the series revived. In that game, played at the Rubber Bowl, 25,131 saw UA grab a 13-0 lead,
but KSU battled back to score 13 fourth-quarter points, and the contest ended in a tie. Akron was then awarded custodial rights for a two-year period for its first possession of the prized trophy since its inception. However, in 1979, UA earned the honor of possessing the Wagon Wheel when it edged the Flashes, 15-13. Since then, the two adversaries have traded the trophy back and forth.

The Zips have outscored Kent by a 320-174 margin the last nine seasons and won the Wheel in eight of those nine meetings. UA leads the all-time series, 27-19-2.

The Evolution of Zippy

The evolution of Zippy, The University of Akron’s mascot, began 53 years ago when the student council, under president Dave Frye, decided the University needed a mascot. “Zippy” the kangaroo was officially declared UA’s mascot on May 1, 1953. Dick Hansford, UA student council advisor, recommended the kangaroo and it was approved by the council.“I got the idea from a comic strip that I think was called Kicky, the fighting kangaroo, that was popular
at the time,” said Hansford.

The selection of the kangaroo for a mascot brought forth the wrath of The Buchtelite and the Akron Beacon Journal. The Buchtelite suggested that the issue be voted upon by the entire student body in the next campus election.

No one recalls who made the arrangements for the first costume, but a paper-mache head was produced along with a brown furry uniform that zipped up the back.

Pete Demming debuted Oct. 1, 1955, at the second-annual Acme- Zip Game - not as “Zippy” but as “Mr. Zip.” The first known printed reference to the mascot as “Zippy” was a 1965 Zip football press brochure. The Buchtelite's first use of the name “Zippy” came Sept. 24, 1965, in
an identification of a photo of the cheerleaders listing “Mascot - ‘Zippy’ - Charles Huettner.”

What is a Zip?

One of the unique nicknames in all of intercollegiate athletics belongs to the University of Akron. Originally Zippers, athletics director Kenneth“Red” Cochrane officially shortened the nickname to the Zips in 1950. Twenty-five years earlier a campus-wide contest had been conducted to choose a nickname for the University's athletics teams.

Suggestions submitted by students, faculty, and alumni included Golden Blue Devils, Tip Toppers, Rubbernecks, Hillbillies, Kangaroos and Cheveliers. The winner, freshman Margaret Hamlin, received a prize of $10 for Zippers, a $6 pair of rubber overshoes and a brand name of the BF Goodrich Company.

The evolution of Zippy, UA’s mascot, began 40 years ago when the student council decided the University needed a mascot.“Zippy” the kangaroo was officially declared the school’s mascot on May 1, 1953.

ZIPS conference affiliations
(for a more comprehensive athletic history, click here)

  Competition Levels
  NCAA College Division 1891 to 1973
  Division II - 1974 to 1979
  Division I-AA - 1980 to 1986
  Division I - 1987 to present
  
  Conference Affiliations
  Independent, 1891 to 1947
  Ohio Athletic Conference, 1948 to 1965
  Independent, 1966 to 1977
  Mid-Continent Conference, 1978 to 1979
  Ohio Valley Conference, 1980 to 1986
  Independent, 1987 to 1991
  Mid American Conference, 1992 to present

Ohio's Pride - The University of Akron Marching Band

The University of Akron Marching Band originated between 1900-1910 as an ROTC Band that performed for parades and May Day. Sometime during the early 1920's, the ROTC association was removed from the band and a number of part-time band directors were hired - most notably Francesco DeLeone, James T. Weber, and James Campbell.

In 1938, Neill Starr, the director of the music department and a graduate of Northwestern University, thought that the ROTC band should perform at football games, and brought the band under the auspices of the music department. Starr directed the band and the twirlers became known as the "Starlettes," a play upon the name of the first marching band director.

In 1941, Darrel "Red" Witters became the first full-time Director of Bands with a band of about 40 to 45 members. The Marching Band met at Spicer School (a grade school which became Spicer Hall) for one hour before each game to rehearse two or three marches that they would perform at the game. A typical halftime performance consisted of the band marching down field in straight lines) while playing these marches. At the end of the field, they would turn around, march back to mid-field, and form a stick-figure "A." They would then march directly off the field.

Between 1943 and 1945, there was no Marching Band or football team due to World War II. The band was reorganized in 1946 and by the early 1950's membership had increased to around 60. In 1951, the band received a bass drum that was inside a rolling Goodyear tractor tire. Although extremely popular at games and very mobile, the drum proved difficult to play. The drum was abandoned after its first (and only) year. The Band, under the leadership of Witters, continued to perform for all home football games, in addition to Cleveland Browns games, parades, and the Soap Box Derby Parade. Witters retired in 1967.

In 1967, Richard Jackoboice became the Director of Bands at a time when the University was changing from a municipal college of 3,000 to a state university of more than 20,000 students. During this period of growth, the band membership jumped from 45 to 100 members almost overnight. Jackoboice, a graduate of the University of Michigan, developed the size and style for which The University of Akron Marching Band is noted.

In 1987, Robert D. Jorgensen, became Director of Bands at The University of Akron. A graduate of the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, he has helped establish The University of Akron Band program as one of the most highly respected in the Midwest.

In 1999, Galen S. Karriker became Assistant Director of Bands at The University of Akron. A graduate of Louisiana State University and Michigan State University, he joined The University of Akron Band Program after serving as the Assistant to the Director of Bands at The University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Karriker continues the excellence of performance of "Ohio's Pride" and its reputation as one the most respected athletic band programs in the MAC.