"Nicknames & Mascots" Every team has a story
Discover the reason behind the names and read the stories behind the faces
"Nicknames & Mascots" Every team has a story
Discover the reason behind the names and read the stories behind the faces
About the "Nicknames and Mascots" Book Series
The Author
CHRIS PIO is a former cross country/track and field coach and also served as Sports Information Director at Monmouth College (Illinois) for nine years. After 27 years of coaching, he remains active as a sports official and PA announcer. Inducted into the Monmouth College M-Club Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022, his announcing resume includes seven NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA national championship events. A native of Illinois now residing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Pio has taken his passion for detail, experience with research and love of athletics to create entertaining collections of stories that combine sports information, history, trivia and popular culture. He began his innovative “Nicknames and Mascots” book series in 2021 with his first collection of stories from NCAA Division III and has added another to the set each year.
The Stories
"Nicknames and Mascots" currently features five separate volumes and continues to deliver high-quality content for both the general athletics fan and hardcore sports fanatic. The series started in 2021 and includes separate divisional books on all four-year colleges and universities that sponsor intercollegiate sports from the NCAA, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. Volume 5, released in early 2025, adds nearly 700 additional two-year schools, tribal colleges, trade schools and more to the original four books for a complete and comprehensive listing of 2,250 athletic teams. These books have been featured at the 2025 TUCSON FESTIVAL OF BOOKS and the 2025 IOWA CITY BOOK FESTIVAL.