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The
Story of
the
Wonder
Boys
In 1919,
Arkansas
Tech's
football
team
upset
the
highly-favored
Jonesboro
Aggies
(now
Arkansas
State
University)
14-0
behind a
pair of
70-yard
punt
returns
for
touchdowns
and two
point-after
kicks by
17-year-old
quarterback
John
Tucker.
The
Jonesboro
team had
staked
claim to
the
mystical
state
football
championship
prior to
the
game.
Henry
Loesch,
sports
editor
for the
Arkansas
Gazette
in
Little
Rock,
covered
the game
and
coined
the name
"Wonder
Boys" in
complimenting
the Tech
team,
then
known as
the
Aggies,
in his
post-game
story.
Tech's
men's
athletic
teams
have
been
known as
the
Wonder
Boys
ever
since
and
Tucker
was
hereafter
labeled
as "The
Original
Wonder
Boy."
He went
on to
play on
the
University
of
Alabama's
Rose
Bowl
team in
1931 and
later
returned
to Tech
to
teach,
coach
and
serve as
the
school's
athletic
director
between
1933 and
1968.
The
Story of
the
Golden
Suns
Tired of
being
referred
to as
the 'Wonderettes',
the
female
athletes
of
Arkansas
Tech
University
held a
contest
in the
spring
of 1975
to
determine
what
their
new
mascot
would
be.
Several
names
were
nominated,
but in
the end,
the
athletes
selected
Golden
Suns as
their
new
mascot.
The
volleyball
team in
the fall
of 1975
was the
first
squad to
play
under
the name
Golden
Suns,
which in
the
years
since
has
become
synonymous
with
excellence
in
women's
intercollegiate
athletics.
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