Testudo - A Diamondback Turtle

Dr. H.C. Byrd, a football coach, recommended the Diamondback as mascot in 1932 in response to the student newspaper's search for an "official" leader. Byrd's childhood in Crisfield, Md., apparently included skirmishes with this brand of snapping turtle, indigenous to the Bay. The school paper was in fact already called The Diamondback, and when the Class of 1933 stepped forward with the idea of giving the University a permanent bronzed version as its graduation gift, Testudo's family was in to stay. Further turtleization came when the student yearbook, The Reveille, became The Terrapin in 1935. Newspapers, even then exploring every angle, shortened Terrapin to Terp for headline writing ease when it wasn't trying to cram Old Liner into a single column head.

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