By: Jonathan Szczepaniak | Metro | Published July 18, 2024
METRO DETROIT — For those who attend or have attended Macomb Community College, the Monarch nickname never made any sense largely due to the fact that there wasn’t a logo to go along with it. What is a Monarch? Is the school actually named after butterflies?
Apparently, that was common.
“When I first heard we were the Monarchs, I didn’t really know what that meant, because there was nothing associated with it,” freshman women’s basketball player Carissa Hankins said in a press release. “We’re the Monarchs, but we’re not a butterfly. So, what are we? Nothing came to mind.”
This is an identity crisis that’s been long overdue for some answers, and Macomb Community College is finally putting the unanswered question to rest.
On July 17, Macomb Community College announced the new athletic logo, which features a lion’s head topped with a crown.
Monarchies have long used a lion as the symbol of strength and courage, which finally gives a sense of meaning to the school’s nickname.
“Our new Monarchs logo provides an identity for our student-athletes to rally around,” Bryan Rizzo, director of athletics at Macomb Community College, said in a press release. “The traits the lion symbol embodies reflect the strength and resilience we work to foster within each Macomb student as an athlete, as well as attributes that will help support them as they pursue education, career, family and community life.”
Macomb Community College currently features nine athletic teams with over 100 student-athletes who now can finally have an understanding of what it means to be a Monarch, since the name was first coined for the school’s athletic teams in 1967. Current sports offered at the school are baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, softball, volleyball, and men’s and women’s track and field.
“The traits of a lion would be tough, fierce, defending their territory and also family,” Matt Fecht, Macomb cross country coach and former student-athlete, said in a press release. “I think that describes the program we’re trying to build with the cross country program. We’re making a family atmosphere. We’re going to go out there and we’re going to be tough.”
“It brings another dimension to the athletics department as a whole,” Macomb baseball coach Taylor Grzelakowski said in a press release. “It’s just something that’s going to pique the interest of our players, parents, audience — everyone involved.”