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History


The Pirate was a natural choice for the ECU mascot. A symbol and namesake for East Carolina University's athletic teams, the Pirate was adopted from the legend and lore of coastal North Carolina and was a natural choice for a nickname when intercollegiate athletics began at the school in the 1930s.

Pirates, fierce and colorful were prominent in the early 18th century. The state's Outer Banks which jut far out into the Atlantic were ideal hideouts for these legendary gangsters of the high seas. Many had homes and families in the small villages along the coast.

Edward Teach, best known as "Blackbeard" was an infamous resident of eastern North Carolina. He had a house at Ocracoke and an inland home at Bath near the Pamlico Sound.

East Carolina University's interest in pirates and sea lore begin in 1934. That year, the Tecoan, the yearbook for what was then East Carolina Teachers College, carried pirates as its theme. The pages were filled with paintings and sketches of patched eye buccaneers, tall ships and buried treasure. The book referred to the tales of "Teachy the Pirate" often told by natives in the historic town of Bath.

The men's varsity team, at the time, was known as "The Teachers," a lackluster band of athletes who had won only two football games in three seasons of existence. The students' interest in pirates grew quickly and resulted in changing the name of the team to capture the romantic appeal of the early sea adventures. The change brought so much enthusiasm that in the following year, 1935, the Pirate football team performed much better, winning three of its six games.

Prior to the introduction of intercollegiate football in 1932, the ECTC Athletic Association fielding teams in basketball, tennis, baseball and archery, was content with the more classical nicknames. A 1930-31 Handbook for ECTC listed the two teams that made up the Athletic Association as the Olympians and the Athenians. Their colors were purple and gold (the same as today's colors) and the mascot was a wildcat.

The school colors, by the way, go all the way back to when the first students arrived on campus in 1909. In the book East Carolina University The Formative Years 1907-1982 , Mary Jo Bratton, ECU's historian, said the school colors represented one of the first traditions established by the students. She reported that at the start of the first academic year, the administration asked students for their suggestions on school colors. Old gold and royal purple won the vote.

Other uses of the pirate theme began in the 1940s with a literary magazine named "Pieces of Eight." The name, however, was later changed to "Rebel." ECU's faculty and staff newsletter uses the name "Pieces of Eight" today.

The college yearbook became the "Buccaneer" in the 1950s and the pirate symbol, the face of a bearded, patched-eye character with a crossed bone emblem on his hat, was added to the official school seal in the mid 1960s.

The contemporary pirate figure that ECU fans enjoy today is a 1983 creation. At first this proud, swaggering, tough-guy was called "Pee Dee," named after a prominent river that winds through the two Carolinas. Now the mascot responds to several names -- Mr. Pirate, Pee Dee, Pete -- as long as the name is spoken with respect.
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