Arizona’s Grand Canyon, also playing in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, started its Antelope nickname in 1949, later ...

The limestone buildings shimmer in the blazing Texas sun. A Franciscan friar emerges from the parish office behind the church. I briefly wonder whether he’s melting under his brown habit.

Habit-wearing Frankie debuted in 1983 and underwent a makeover in 2009. The Catholic-Franciscan school's student newspaper first referred to the football team as “The Red Flashes” in 1927.

Fans navigating the dozens of schools in the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments might become as attached to the mascots as the athletes themselves. Furry, animated characters used as ...