Nickname Of UH Men's Teams To Be Rainbow Warriors

Nickname Of UH Men's Teams To Be Rainbow Warriors

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i Athletics Department has announced that the nickname of its men's teams will be Rainbow Warriors, rather than Warriors, as was previously announced in February.

Beginning July 1, Rainbow Warriors will be the official nickname of the men's programs, while the women's teams will be Rainbow Wahine.

“The decision on February 13 to change the nickname of the men's teams to Warriors has generated a lot of discussion and we have received both positive and negative feedback,” Ben Jay, UH athletics director, said. “We listened to the public discussion and we went back to the original two questions we asked ourselves - who are we and what is representative of the islands?"

In 2000, UH changed the nickname of the football, men's volleyball, golf, and tennis teams to Warriors, while the men's basketball and swimming & diving teams remained Rainbow Warriors and the baseball team remained Rainbows.

“We initially decided to adopt Warriors as the nickname of our men's teams, since it was used by the majority of our men's programs, including the one with the largest fan following (football),” Jay said.  "This is a very subjective and emotional issue and the only clear consensus on this topic over the last 13 years has been that a decision needed to be made to unify our men's teams under one nickname. That goal will still be accomplished as we retain the Rainbow and Warriors names, both of which are near and dear to the hearts of our fans, whom we represent.”