ATHLETICS NEWS
Meet the 21st Century Warrior Mascot
McKenna Phillips ’26, the Westmont College Student Association (WCSA) communications manager and a philosophy major, led the effort to name a refreshed Warrior mascot. Students submitted 375 nominations in March, and the committee announced two finalists during Spring Sing at the Santa Barbara Bowl: Wynn and Wallace/Wally. The crowd chose Wallace/Wally, a tribute to Wallace Emerson, Westmont’s first president.
The committee included: Vice President Irene Neller; Joanne Gish, bookstore manager; Ron Smith, sports information director; Rob Ruiz, athletic director; Angela D’Amour, student engagement dean; Janay Marshall, alumni director; and Sophia Southard ’27.
In 1947, Westmont students voted to adopt the name Warriors for athletic teams, replacing Wildcats. The earliest image depicts a Warrior inspired by Roman soldiers, wearing a helmet and a breastplate and carrying a triangular shield with a large “W.”
In 1953, the Citadel featured a kneeling Warrior with sandals, sword, Roman helmet and shield. A large cross on the breastplate suggests the knights of the roundtable. A year later, the yearbook showed just the Warrior’s head with a maroon plume on his helmet.
By the late 1950s, the mascot emerged with a name and a new look: Willie the Warrior. But both faded away in the 1960s. Then in 1983, the Warrior appears as a silhouette mounted on a horse and bearing a spear. While the silhouette went through revisions, it remained much the same until 2007.
The renovation of Murchison Gym and the creation of Kammerer Court (named for longtime men’s basketball coach Chet Kammerer) prompted a mascot makeover. Chase Design Group in Los Angeles, led by the late, award-winning designer Margo Chase, developed the logo used today. The shield and wreaths represent the important link between athletics and academics. Laurel wreaths, the prize for ancient Olympic athletes, reflect the excellence of Westmont teams. The New Testament twice mentions competition for a wreath in keeping with the college’s foundational faith in Christ.