Beginning Season 31, the Charleston Rebels will be changing their name to The Charleston Mountaineers. A new logo on a new team envelope will accompany the change.
This is being done for the following reasons.
1. The team, as originally formed, makes its home in Charleston, West Virginia.
2. The team was mistakenly nicknamed The Rebels under the assumption that West Virginia supported the Confederate States of America during the War Between The States.
3. The fact of the matter is that once the war broke out, the western portion of Virginia, because they did NOT support the Confederacy, formed its own state, which is, of course, West Virginia.
4. The logo for the Charleston team was selected as a Confederate flag, and has, in fact, been wrong for 30 seasons.
5. Now seems to be a great time to correct the mistake, since the back of the envelope where year-by-year records are recorded, is full.
6. With the old nickname and logo, Charleston, West Virginia could easily be mistaken as being Charleston, South Carolina, the latter being definitely a Confederate States state.
7. The Rebel flag is in this day and age, politically incorrect and continues to gain in political incorrectness as the years go on. As owner of the Charleston franchise, I am increasingly uncomfortable with one of my teams being associated with the Rebel flag.
8. The new name, The Mountaineers, is taken from the saying on the West Virginia state flag "A Mountaineer is always free."
9. All old records will carry over from the old name to the new for this franchise.
Here is the old and new team logos.
