Alumni News

Is one an alum if one was throwed out on his ass because going to classes is for squares? Anyway, somehow a "magical year" has happened in Walla Walla, & one of the ass't. coaches has become a virus.And then the magic went away.

Whitman made it to the third round of the Division III tournament before losing 99-73 to the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Go Fighting MissionariesShockers!! No, now they're "Missionaries" again. Here's the sports information:

The Whitman sports team are called the Missionaries. It is a natural name since the college (not to be confused with Whitworth College in Spokane or Whittier College in California) was named after missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. This was a nickname which implied to me, at least, passivity; and it gave the impression that Whitman, a nonsectarian school, was church-related. I did some checking and learned that the “Missionaries” name, although used for many years, apparently had never been officially adopted by the Whitman student body. This was enough of an opening for me to start promoting a “Shockers” nickname for the teams. Walla Walla is wheat growing country, and the Shockers (short for Wheat Shocker) seemed appropriate. I started using the Shockers name in my SID work, which dismayed some at the college and amused others. But as soon as I left the college for a new job in Oregon, use of the Shocker name was discontinued at Whitman College

Hadn't heard the full story. Could've sworn they were the Fighting Missionaries during my three semesters. (Could've been anything if the name wasn't official.) Although, considering that missionaries Marcus & Narcissa & the rest of their mission were massacred good in 1847 by the local residents, the Cayuse, "fighting" might not have been the best choice.