History of the Golden Flashes
The Kent State Golden Flashes are the athletic teams that represent Kent State University. The university fields 19 varsity athletic teams in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, with football competing in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Kent State is a full member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and has been part of the MAC East division since it was created in 1998. Official school colors are Kent State Blue and Kent State Gold.
Several Kent State athletic teams have enjoyed success in the Mid-American Conference and national level over the years. The university has produced individual national champions in both wrestling and track and field. Both the men's and women's golf teams have been the most successful in MAC play, having won the most conference titles in MAC history through 2017. The men's golf team has also finished as high as 5th nationally in 2012 to go with 6th and 9th-place finishes, while the women's golf team also claimed a 5th-place finish in 2017. Additionally, the men's basketball team made an impressive run to the Elite Eight in 2002, the baseball team advanced to the College World Series in 2012, and the softball team qualified for the Women's College World Series in 1990. Kent State also has had high national finishes from the men's indoor and outdoor track and field teams, women's gymnastics, and wrestling. Several Golden Flashes alumni have gone on to play and coaches in both college and major professional sports, such as Jack Lambert, Antonio Gates, Nick Saban, Lou Holtz, Thurmon Munson, and Emmanuel Burriss.
College Sports Established
1910
Location
Kent, Ohio
College Name
Kent State University
Collegiate History
1973 - Present / NCAA Division I
1932 - 1973 / University Division of the NCAA
Conference History
1951 - Present / MAC Conference
1932 - 1951 / Ohio Athletic Conference
Nickname
Golden Flashes - Kent State Normal College establishes its first “real football team with full equipment [and] honest-to-goodness coach” in 1920 (1921 Chestnut Burr), but goes without scoring—or a name—until they call the 1923 team the “Silver Foxes,” after the silver fox ranch adjacent to campus that is co-owned by the school’s first president, John McGilvrey (1923 Chestnut Burr). The 1923 team scores the college's first touchdown and receives this accolade: “The Silver Foxes . . . created a fighting spirit that will live—an undying determination that will make the football record at Kent State in the future a thing of joy” (1924 Chestnut Burr). There is no mention of a silver fox ever attending a game.
The Board of Trustees dismisses President McGilvrey in January 1926, after his repeated attempts to advance the school’s standing antagonizes the Ohio legislature and the president of The Ohio State University. Acting president T. Howard Winters supposedly institutes a contest (with a $25 prize) to select a new name for Kent State athletic teams, and Golden Flashes wins (The Years of Youth by Phillip R. Shriver). However, the Nov. 29, 1927 Kent Stater and the 1927 Chestnut Burr still refer to the athletic teams as the Silver Foxes.
The name Golden Flashes appears without ceremony in the Jan. 13, 1928 Kent Stater and in the caption for the basketball team in the 1928 Chestnut Burr. However, an ad appears in the June 1, 1928 Kent Stater: “Name still open, to be decided Wednesday. ‘Give Kent’s Athletic Teams a Name Contest’ will be decided once and for all at the Recognition Day Banquet . . . at the time to be named, the Orphans of Kent will officially have a name.” Names to be voted on include the already recognized “Silver Foxes” and “Golden Flashes,” but “Hurricanes” and “Warriors” are strong contenders.
“Golden Flashes,” which apparently wins again, is said to be derived from the popular California Golden Bears at the University of California, Berkeley, national champions in 1920. Oliver Wolcott, who played football at Kent State in 1922 and became sports editor of the Kent Courier-Tribune, perpetuates its use in his columns (as recalled in a recording, circa 1983, by Richard "Moose" Paskert ’49, athlete, coach and administrator in the athletics program for more than 40 years). Kent State teams use the symbol of a lightning bolt for many years.
NCAA Championships
Baseball 0
Men's Basketball 0
Women's Basketball 0
Football 0
Soccer 0
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