When the University of Toledo played the then-powerful Carnegie Institute of Technology in football on September 29, 1923, Pittsburgh sportswriters were surprised to learn that UT’s team had no nickname. Despite the 32-12 loss, a junior writer for UT’s student newspaper, The Campus Collegian, labeled the team “Skyrockets” due to its performance against a superior team. Other writers began using the name “Rockets” (with quotation marks) in their stories, but after a week the quotation marks were dropped and the University of Toledo’s nickname remained the Rockets.

Cotton/Poly/Rayon