How could you not know about the Runnin' Rebs? Why do people think that there can only be one reason for being called a Rebel, that reason being from the South? To answer your question, he started out as an oldSouthern looking ex-soldier (not unlike Colonel Reb at Ole Miss)but was transformed over the years into a more cavalier looking guy. Now, he looks more like a cartoon character than anything. When Nevada Southern began playing football in 1968, they had small Confederate battle flag style football shaped logos. They were called the Rebels because they broke away from the main campus of the University of Nevada-Reno. Here are some pictures. They haven't really gotten away with anything, because they have slowly changed their mascot over the years and did away with any Confederate imagery that there was years ago. The ones they did have back then didn't have the "negative connotations" of Southern schools simply because they weren't in the South. The South has been held to a different standard than the rest of the country for years.
1968
Current football mascot
Edited by: Colonel_Reb