NCW toda
Vol. VIII, No. 6 Ucjl. I
news from UNC by the sea
AUGUST, 1984
Is There Really a Seahawk?
Only in Wilmington and Seattle
What does Errol Flynn have to do with the
University of North Ceirolina at Wilmington? If the
truth be known, the actor played a not insignifi
cant part in the school’s colors and mascot.
How? It’s a long, but interesting, story.
Adrian D. Hurst, UNCW professor emeritus,
researched the origins of the mascot and colors.
This is the story.«
Just after the first basketball team had been
organized in 1947, with Stanley Katkaveck as
coach, someone suggested that they needed a
mascot. Several suggestions were made. One of the
suggestions was the seahawk, made by Carl E.
Mason and LeRoy Towles, both on the basketball
team. Mason and Towles also suggested green and
gold as the school colors. After all suggestions had
been made, Wilmington College students voted.
The rest is history. We are the Seahawks, and our
colors are green and gold.
But where did Masoij and^^les come up with
the seahawk and the coj0fs3^\fteiyill, there isn’t
even such a bird!
According to Masorrap^f^ent iE^;view, he and
his teammate had seen'^e mo^ef*'TSe Seahawk”
_i.——1 17.1 played a
“3^ the Seahawk.
ith Errol Flynn,
skitd and birds to
Je'lmpressed them
starring Errol Flynn, in whig
ship’s captain who was ^c^
They were, of course, in^^
But, the similari^^fam'.tocear
some of the scen^Lirrthe,;
too, and they thought it would be appropriate for
the seahawk to be Wilmington College’s mascot,
and green and gold the colors.
According to Mason, the prize for the suggestion
which became the mascot was two free season
tickets to all basketball games for two years. The
only problem with that was—both Mason and
Towles played basketball! They didn’t need the
tickets. Mason said he never did find out who, if
anyone, received the free tickets.
Interestingly enough, the Seattle Seahawks of
the National Football League came into being in
much the same way as our local Seahawks. The
owners held a contest, offering a prize to the name
they liked the best. Seattle residents weren’t able
to vote, of course, but everybody who wanted to
could enter the contest.
In his research, Hurst discovered one other per
son who was largely responsible for the favorable
student vote on the seahawk and green and gold.
Maurice "Houck” Moore was a likable student, got
involved in campus campaigns, and was active in
carrying the banner for the adoption of the
seahawk and the colors.
Over the years, the Wilmington College/UNCW
Seahawk has been portrayed in several different
poses. Many of them are shown here. The bird has
been flying up and flying down; it has been strut
ting proudly; it has even looked somewhat like a
parrot! But no matter what the look or style, that
bird has always been our Seahawk.
Many people believe that there is such a bird as
a seahawk. But, according to ornithology books,
there isn’t. There is, however, a beautiful local
bird, found in a large part of the coastal area of
Today's Seahawk
UNCW DELEGATION VISITS ROTC ADVANCED CAMP
AT FORT BRAGG—From left. Vice Chancellor for Stu
dent Affairs William A. Bryan is greeted by Col. IVIichael
McAdams, ROTC Area 5 commander. Looking on are
Vice r^hanrpitortor Academic Atiairs Ciiaries L. Cii'niii,
Maj. David Felt, chairman of the military science depart-
Fort Bragg photo
ment at UNCW; 2nd Lt. Greg Rice, Advanced Camp pro
tocol officer; Dr. Norman R. Kaylor, dean of the
Cameron School of Business Administration; and Dr.
Daniel B. Plyler, dean of the College of Arts and
He Views Blindness as an Asset
Severe cataracts and glaucoma stole Leroy
Harkley’s sight at the age of 7. Now, 20 years later,
the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
senior is doing everything he can to help other
blind people, especially the elderly.
An intern with the Wilmington Parks and
Recreation Department, he shows blind adults how
to bowl, swim, play table games, do crafts and
dance.
"They seem to have a good attitude,” he said.
"They don’t seem down on themselves or complain.
They all seem happy and cheerful.”
That is precisely how others would describe
the eastern United States, that is commonly call
ed a Fishhawk by commercial fishermen, because
it is a predator and feeds on fish. Most bird books
refer to this bird as an Osprey.
Adrian Hurst said recently that "I probably
wouldn’t have remembered anything about these
events, except for the fact that, sometime before
the mascot elections, someone approached me to
know what I thought about the suggestion of the
Seahawk. When I told them there is no such bird,
I was soon told, jokingly, that there was going to
be one!”
These same Seahawks are set to join the ECAC-
South in the fall. The basketball schedule is be
ing finalized now. Other schedules are also in the
works. For the first time, UNCW will participate
in a post-season conference tournament for a
chance to play in the NCAA national tournament.
(Adrian Hurst is emeritus professor of mathe
matics at UNCW. He began teaching when Wil
mington College opened its doors in 1947. He was
very popular among the students, and he remains
active in the university’s activities. He established
the Adrian D. Hurst Award to recognize a UNCW
junior or senior math major who has achieved the
highest academic grade point average. He presents
the award each spring. We at the University of
North Carolina at Wilmington thank him for all
his efforts, both inside and out of the classroom.)
Harkley, a soft-spoken, likable man who views his
handicap as an advantage, not a hindrance.
Because he is blind, he relates better to other peo
ple in the same situation, he said. "I always felt
that I could help others,” he said recently in his
dormitory room at UNCW, a room filled with N.C.
State University basketball posters.
"Especially the elderly. I read so much about how
society treated them, how they were pushed aside.
I could relate to that.”
Born in Havelock to a family of 11, Harkley
began losing his eyesight right after he began
school. He recalls catching a school bus and attend
ing class. He remembers colors.
Then the diseases took over. For a while he could
detect light and dark. Now he cannot see a thing.
For 13 years, he attended the Governor
Morehead School for the blind in Raleigh. He
learned to read and write Braille, a system using
raised dots for letters and numbers.
Now as a college student, he tapes the lectures
in class. Then he goes back to his dorm and plays
the tape back, taking notes in Braille.
Harkley is receiving class credit for his work
with the city parks department, where he spends
18 hours a week. Among other projects, he
developed the "Remember Radio” program for the
visually impaired.
He is studying social work at UNCW. When he
finishes his courses in May, he plans to look for
a job with an agency that works with the elderly
and blind.
People ask him, he said, how he managed. It
takes confidence, he answers, and a determination
not to depend on anyone but himself.
"When it first happened, when it hit me, I was
angry,” he said. "Of all the people in the world,
why did it happen to me?
"I was not only angry at myself, I was angry at
everyone else. Then I got used to it. I’ve been blind
so many years. People ask me whether, if I could
choose, would I be sighted or blind? I don’t know.
Maybe I would choose to be blind.”
This story first appeared in the March 3, 1984
edition of the Wilmington Morning Star. It was
written by Laura A. Mercer. Harkley has since
graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.