What is a Zip?

What, exactly, is a Zip?

When I lived in Florida, if I wanted to watch some Akron football, I was often relegated to finding a sports bar with a satellite feed that carried the very few televised Zips football games. The games were rarely featured events at the bars, and I’d have to further inquire, asking whoever was in charge if they would mind tuning the 12 inch TV positioned above the booth in the extreme back corner of the bar to channel 6578 so I could see my Zips play. I was often greeted with an incredulous “You’d like to see what game? The……..Zips?”

And then it would happen. The inevitable question everyone not from Akron ultimately and invariably will ask, “What is a Zip?” Usually the question is accompanied by a tilting of the head, or, in the more extreme cases of incomprehension, an odd and unnatural scrunching of the face, as if I had just mentioned discovering a rare cryptozoological species like the Chupacabra.

In the earlier and blissfully ignorant days of my youth, I was generally unprepared for these inquisitions, and would simply make up any answer that came to mind; “A zip is a zipper…we invented them in Akron” was my tried and true standby. Over time, my own curiosity was piqued, and I sought out the answer to that enigmatic question which had so often puzzled me.

“What is a Zip?”

The answer is almost as interesting as the aforementioned Chupacabra.

In the early 1900’s, Akron’s own BF Goodrich made a very popular rubber shoe known as the “Zipper.” Around 1925, a contest was held on the Akron campus to find a new nickname. A student named Margaret Hamlin submitted the name “Zippers” as homage to a local product. Her winning submission netted her a grand prize of $10. Circa 1950, the button-fly design of jeans was largely replaced by the zipper, and it was around this time that Akron Athletic Director Kenneth “Red” Cochrane, in the interest of the University not having a mascot named after the fly-front of blue jeans, decided to shorten the nickname to “Zips”.

Despite some attempts to correlate the marsupial pouch with a zipper, Zippy was actually officially declared the mascot of the University of Akron on May 1, 1953 when All-American student athlete diver Bob Savoy, while chairing a committee to recommend a mascot, suggested a kangaroo. When the student council approved this decision and made it official, there was actually a bit of controversy as the student body protested that they were not included in the decision.

Time has vindicated the student councils' decision, as Zippy has become a unique and beloved figure at University of Akron events over the years, and is particularly popular with kids. Zippy earned some added notoriety by winning the 2007 Capital One Mascot of the Year honor. Incidentally, Zippy is one of the very few female college mascots, evidenced by her pouch which only female marsupials possess.