Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

In 1922, the Edmonton Eskimos changed their name to the Edmonton Elks, for purely non-political reasons. Most of the people associated with the team belonged to the local Elks fraternal men’s organization. There were actually quite a few teams across North America that called themselves the Elks for the same reason. Besides, they were tired of being confused with the Edmonton Eskimos hockey team. A year later, they brought back the Eskimos name, but I couldn’t find the historical reason for bringing Eskimos back. Today, the Edmonton Football Team officially became the Edmonton Elks, this time for political reasons.

I like that they kept the original colors and the two E's (for the town and team name) and the new helmet is good looking.

Do you think that the Washington Football Team new name should also start with an "R"? I don't think that they do it.

RyanChristiansen wrote:In 1922, the Edmonton Eskimos changed their name to the Edmonton Elks, for purely non-political reasons. Most of the people associated with the team belonged to the local Elks fraternal men’s organization. There were actually quite a few teams across North America that called themselves the Elks for the same reason. Besides, they were tired of being confused with the Edmonton Eskimos hockey team. A year later, they brought back the Eskimos name, but I couldn’t find the historical reason for bringing Eskimos back. Today, the Edmonton Football Team officially became the Edmonton Elks, this time for political reasons.

I checked Decade of Excellence (1980) and Epic Legacy of the Edmonton Eskimos (2016). Neither book gives a reason for the switch back to Eskimos in 1923. The 1922 Elks began the season as the Edmonton Eskimos. A formal announcement concerning the name change came on October 16 after the local Elks Club had made a financial donation to the Eskimo Rugby Club:

"... Eskimo Rugby Club decided last night that the name must be changed, that it did not connote the qualities that one would expect to find in football players."

https://mobile.twitter.com/Stats_Junkie ... 2999929857

While the name change to Elks was official, their jerseys still said "Eskimo" on them during the 1922 season. There are a couple different team photos shown in the previously mentioned books that confirm this. Some newspaper accounts still referred to them as Eskimos late in the season:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1 ... 4%2C855106

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3 ... %2C1730366

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f ... %2C3576348

The name "Elks" may not have been popular with fans at the time, as mentioned in this short but informative video:

https://youtu.be/S0MoMR5C7ew

Not a fan of the name changes at all especially when the majority of fans are not asking for one, and will never call them anything other than Eskimos and Redskins.

However...Elks is pretty decent as a name. You don't hear it too often across all levels of sports (How many "Panthers" are out there. In all levels of football, hockey. high school, college etc)