Article published February 20, 2008
Mud Hens snag catchy 'Walleye' as moniker for hockey franchise
Walleye, a moniker the Mud Hens first sought through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May of 2005, will be announced as the mascot for pro hockey in Toledo at an 11 a.m. news conference today.
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By JOE VARDON
BLADE STAFF WRITER
As it turned out, the Toledo Mud Hens reeled in a team name for the city's professional hockey franchise a long time ago. But they're still fishing for something to call the arena football team.
Walleye, a moniker the Mud Hens first sought through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May of 2005, will be announced as the mascot for pro hockey in Toledo at an 11 a.m. news conference today.
The other name the Hens pursued trademark rights for - Woodpeckers - will not be attached to the city's future arena football franchise, officials said.
Joe Napoli, general manager of the Hens and Toledo Arena Sports Inc., a not-for-profit organization created by the Hens to own Toledo's hockey and arena football organizations, said public outcry over the possibly negative connotations of "Woodpeckers" was too strong to ignore.
In November, The Blade first reported that the Mud Hens sought rights for "Walleye" for hockey and "Woodpeckers" for arena football, but also pursued "Peckers" and "Peckerheads."
Area residents flooded The Blade and Hens' offices with calls, letters, and e-mails in response to those initial reports, and Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop initiated his own Internet campaign to solicit public suggestions for both franchises.Walleye survived the vetting process; Woodpeckers didn't.
"Woodpeckers is dead," Mr. Napoli said.
"If we could push rewind, we would not have registered 'Peckers' and 'Peckerheads.' I don't think 'Woodpeckers' would've raised an eye brow. Given that we did [register 'Peckers' and 'Peckerheads'], people focused on those two names."
Mr. Napoli said "Walleye" was on the Hens' list from the beginning. He said between 300 and 400 names were compiled and measured against a set of 20 criteria, which measured uniqueness, relationship to Toledo's history, heritage, culture, and appeal to all age groups, among other things.
Mr. Napoli said the names Mr. Konop's on-line forum generated were measured against the same criteria.
The Toledo Walleye colors are gold and three shades of blue, which will be incorporated in the many primary and secondary Walleye logos Toledo Arena Sports plans to introduce in the next several weeks. Mr. Napoli and staff worked with Studio Simon, a logo development firm in Louisville, Ky., on the team's various logos.
"The Walleye is something we can develop a story around," Mr. Napoli said. "On an annual basis, 50,000 people come to fish for walleye in the Maumee River and Lake Erie. The logo looks good on apparel, it's dissimilar from other sports teams, and you can spell it."
Mr. Konop, who came out publicly against "Woodpeckers" but said he supports "Walleye," said he was fine with the fact that the hockey team's name didn't come from his publicly generated list.
He said the fact that "Woodpeckers" was abandoned shows the public was involved with naming Toledo's new sports teams.
"There were probably 1,000 names that came out of our public forum, and you can't use all of them," Mr. Konop said. "The public spoke and said it didn't want 'Woodpeckers,' and it was a successful exercise in democracy."
Hockey is scheduled to return to Toledo in the fall of 2009, coinciding with the opening of the county's new multipurpose, downtown arena. While there has been no official announcement yet, Mr. Napoli and Arena Football League officials are expected in the coming weeks or months to announce plans for an arenafootball2 franchise in Toledo.
Mr. Napoli said he could unveil the football team's name and logo in the next six months, and the name will likely be chosen from the lists used for the hockey team.
He said that, like the Walleye, the football team's name will draw initial support from some and opposition from others.
"I've yet to see a sports franchise unveil a new team name or logo without some controversy," Mr. Napoli said. "We're prepared for that."
Mr. Napoli said another reason Toledo Arena Sports went away from "Woodpeckers" was a different franchise's move to incorporate the woodpecker into its own logo.
The Williamsport Crosscutters, a minor-league baseball team in Williamsport, Penn., recently announced the woodpecker would be a part of its new marketing scheme.
Gabe Sinicropi, Jr., vice president of marketing and public relations for the Crosscutters, said the woodpecker would not appear on the team's uniform, but could be used on T-shirts, souvenirs, or as part of a theme in the team's ballpark.
Mr. Sinicropi said the Crosscutters worked with Plan B. Branding, of San Diego, to develop the club's new logo - a lumberjack - and marketing plan for 2008, which can encompass "anything that has to do with wood or the forest."
He said the Crosscutters had no knowledge of the Hens' pursuit of the rights to the name "Woodpeckers," and the club was not afraid of any of the negative connotations that sunk the name in Toledo.
"The word 'woodpecker' would never show up on anything we ever did," Mr. Sinicropi said.
Contact Joe Vardon at:
jvardon@theblade.com
or 419-410-5055.
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