Until 1927 Wheaton College sports teams did not have an official name. It was this way until a sports editor for the Recordreferred to the football team as the “Crusaders” in February of 1927.The very next week the football team was again called the Crusaders andthe name stuck. It seems that there is no official naming of the sportsteams the Crusaders, only that the name caught on quickly, and that by1931 the Towerwas calling the sports teams the Crusaders. The name and mascot wereused for 73 years until 2000 when it was announced that Wheaton wouldno longer use them out of a desire to avoided symbols that did notreflect the schools Christian values and goals.