What it Means to be a ‘Lady’: Defending the “Lady Vols” Nickname and Logo

Scholars have contested the use of Lady in team nicknames since the 1980s, as the practice might suggest otherness and inferiority (Eitzen & Zinn, 1989). This study is set in the context of the 2012 merger of the women’s athletic departments at the University of Tennessee and the 2014 announcement that the university would eliminate the Lady Vols brand for all sports but women’s basketball. The latter decision has been met with resistance and applause from various parties. Using textual analysis of voices of athletes and comparing and contrasting them with perspectives of scholars, this study suggests a reading of Lady and Lady Vols as polysemic text with coexisting and competing cultural interpretations.