How the Bucs became the Bucs

Posted Sep 1, 2011 by TBO.com

Updated Sep 1, 2011 at 01:24 AM

By LINDA MCEWEN

On a high note, the Bucs won last week, in front of a good crowd, and the score wasn’t all that important. Thought it was time to throw in some history and why the Bucs are the Bucs. The name was really chosen in a contest by a panel of semi-serious members. See the story, are they really that old? Time flies by fast when you are having fun!

Buccaneers The Best Name, Panel Decides

May 19, 1974

Buzzards didn’t make it.

Neither did Mockingbirds.

And neither did Trippling Trampling Trompers, nor Man-O-Wars, no Garbonzos, nor Levy’s Leggins, nor Mullet, nor Crabs, Mob, Whitecaps, nor Echoes.  Instead, after a month-long competition then a day-long review by a blue-ribbon judges’ panel, WFLA Radio will recommend to the owners that the new National Football League team coming to this area in 1976 be called, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Not so imaginative, you say?

Idea was, the judges said, to produce a name that was inclusive of the entire area and its history and to provide a fighting name that also offered a motif with which booster groups, artists, a band, even the fans, can work.  You know, black flags with skulls and crossbones, swords, eye patches, the works.

Declared the winner was Dr. Richard Molloy of Tampa Carrollwood.  He was the first, by minutes, of 45 different people, to submit the name of Buccaneers.  He wins a fancy color TV and two season tickets to the for 1976.

Dr. Molloy moved here in 1972 and said he submitted the name because “I quickly see the pirate history around here.  It seems to be a common bond.”  He came here from Colorado.

WFLA program boss, Rod Weller, and contest co-chief Jack Harris, said the name suits them fine and they hope it suits the owners.

“We can only recommend it,” said Weller.

“It was the choice of about 6000 different names submitted.  I had no idea we would get such a variety.”

The crack panel of judges picked as the second choice Tampa Bay Sailors.  High in the voting were Tampa Bay 76ers, in commemoration of the year it arrives, and the year the Republic began.

Brewers and Tans were challengers in the voting, as were Conquistadores and the Golden Tide.

Honorable Mention went to Florida Crackers, Suncoast Sunnies, Florida Winters, and Tampa Bayways.

Somebody even suggested Tampa Mafia Another suggested Tampa Spies.

Offered also were Donkeys; Tuffies and Yetis.

Sungods, Troglodytes, Tortillos and Tarzans were submitted, as were Tops and Tidal Waves.

With the struggle for alliteration, the T’s B’s and S’s started more nickname suggestions than any other letters.

Some of the S’s were:

SUN TAM Belks, Sentinels (which had no chance), Scorchers, Sandpipers, Scorpions, Smokers, Sandspurs, 76ers, Seahawks, Suncoasters, Sea Gulls, Serpents, Stogies, Suns, Sun Spheres, Seashells, Sand Dollars, Sea Horses, Sun Bursts, Devils, Supers, Sunshiners, Salts, Scorchers, Snappers, Sundowners, Surfers, Stars, Suns of the Beaches, Satellites, Solaris, Sails, Sunny Beaches, Solarians, Solars, Sun Dials, Sea Eagles, Sands, Stallions, Steamers, Super Jets, Serpents, Sun Spheres, Seashells, San Dollars, Sea Horses, Sun Bursts, Sunshine, Sanders, Salty Dogs, Sunfish, Sunbeams, Ships, Sunshine Seals, Supersonics, Smiles, Sun Fish, Shellers, Sea Breezes, Sea Dogs, Sunders, Snowbirds, Sun Rays, Scalliwags, Skippers, Sea Vultures, Stompers, Sunshine Sea Pens, Suncoast Storms, Schooners, Sabers, Saturns, Sandees, Sea-gars, Sailfish, Sizzlers, Storms, Sturgeons, Surgeons, Sentries, SeaBees, Shiners, Sabals, Shells, Snook Sultans, Sergeants, Sea Devils, Sausages, Southerners, Swampers, and get this: Smilers.

Somebody offered Longshoreman but somebody countered with if that’s the name the team might strike if it loses.  Ugly, ugly.

Sunshine Lovers was an odd offering and somebody said how about 747’s?

Under the B’s were Bananas, Banana Bandits, Bulls, Banana Boomers, Barracuda Babes, Beachcombers, Blue Jays, Bruises, Bruisers, Bullets, Baycats, Barrier, Blazers, Blue Gills, Baylors, Bayers, Buckskins, Brass, Blues, Barnacles, Bees, Buds, Brewers, Bayonettes, Bulldozers, Bombers, Barracudas, Bay Buoys, Barons, and Bobcats.

Under the T’s were plenty, including:

Triangles, Tides, Tornados, Tarpons, Trojans, Toros, Torpedos, Tigers, Tropics, Toreadors, Titans, Tritons, Terns, Terrapins, Tans, Tacklers, Trantulas, Tankers, Tramplers, Tempests, Thunderbolts, Tridants, Toppers, Temps, Terriers, Twisters, Tangerines, Tamp-Petes, Touristers, Tourists, Tramps, Tiger Tails! Tasmanians, Triumverate, Toucan, Triumphants, Trackers, Tapirs, Trespassers, Trigons, Termites, Thors, Taurans, Typhoons, Troopers, Trawlers, Tide Riders, Tories, Tambays, Tropicats, Tomahawk Tributes, Tampans, Treasurers, Thunderheads, Tackles, Travelers, Tonies, Targets, Tortuas, Trumps, Trailblazers, Terrors, Trappers, Tunas, Thunderkickers, Turfs, Tams, Tuffies, and Tars.

Somebody even suggested; seriously, Florida Fruits.

Chevaliers was an interesting offering, as was Cotton-pickers, Crazy Cats, Caloosas, Destroyers, Dixieland Pride, Dunebuggers, Fiddlers, Favorites, Gobs, and Godfathers.

Anchors came in, Alligator All Stars, Aquanauts, Amberjacks, Americans, and Challengers, Corsairs, Crocks, Captains, Citrus Squeezers and Citrus Pickers, Cheroots, Cheetahs, Chameleons, Cobia, Crew, Flippers, Fast Bucks, Fun-coast Fumblers, Gophers, Greats, Hombres, Lasers, Marlin, Mascots, Mantas, even Minarets.

One thinker said how about Egrets, and another said Nip and Tucks.  Also sent in were Retrievers, Jewels, Governors, Fair Fighters, and Gulfstreams.

And that’s not all.

But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is it, and sounds fair.

The judges were Karen Putna of WFLA, David Alfonso of the Clearwater Sun, Bob Chick of the St. Petersburg Independent and, uh, Tom McEwen of the Tampa Tribune, clearly non-partisan, or, something like that.