Date:  Mon, 4 Mar 1996 12:07:40 -0400

From:  Paul Fallon <pfallon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]S850.MWC.EDU>

Subject: Re: Hoya



On Mon, 4 Mar 1996, tom creswell wrote:



> Can anyone tell me why the Georgetown U. athletic teams are called the Hoyas?

> As far as I can tell, hoya is the name of a plant species--a strange name to

> apply to an athletic team.



According to campus lore, at one point there was an athletic team called

the Stonewalls, presumably named after the wall along 37th Street. The

cheer for the team became 'Hoya Saxa' (What Rocks!), a blend of Ancient

Greek 'hoia' (nom. neut. pl. pronoun) and Latin 'saxa' (nom. neut. plural

of saxum, 'rock'). Incidentally, when I was there the radio station was

WROX, a pretty good pun.



--Paul Fallon

pfallon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mwc.edu