Hawks (Nankai 1947-, Fukuoka Daiei 1989-
)
On June 1, 1947, Kinki Great Ring made
a
fresh start with a new name, Nankai
Hawks,
even thought it was the middle of the
season.
The nickname was chosen among subscriptions
from employees. Nankai Dentetsu[Electric
railway] has a feather in their symbol
mark
which represented speed. That is why
they
chose a bird mascot. There is a joke
by a
manager of the team at that time. His
name
was Kazuto Tsuruoka. He said in his
book,
"Midosuji no gaika(Triumphal Song
on
Midosuji)," that there were two
candidates
for the nickname at that time, Hawks
and
Condor. However, the representative
of the
team was bold, so they thought Hawks
was
better. You can see the same story
in several
of Tsuruoka's interview. The team color
was
decided as green at the same time --
from
their color of the trains. They also
hoped
to "be lively like fresh green
trees." |
