With the dawn of the first athletic team (cross country) in the fall of 1947, it became apparent that a nickname would be needed. For the 1947-48 season, Fairfield University adopted the "Men In Red" as its nickname.
The following year, the University introduced men's basketball as its next team and its first varsity sport. With the start of varsity sports, the school put it to the students for input in naming of a school mascot. Two recommendations were made to the Board of Trustees for an official decision and vote. As the late Fr. Charles F. Duffy S.J. recounted:
"As a member of the Board of Trustees, I remember voting at a board meeting late in 1948 on the naming for our athletic teams. We voted for Stags over Chanticleers!"
What made the decision for the Board a bit easier and logical was the fact that the school was part of the Dioceses of Hartford and the word Hartford means stags (hart) and stream (ford). According to Webster's New World Dictionary the word "hart" means "A male of the European red deer; stag." As for the world "ford" Webster describes it as "A shallow place in a stream, river, etc."
As a result, Fairfield University's seal itself was designed featuring a deer leaping over a tumbling brook to represent both the school's connection with the Dioceses as well with its close ties with nature.
Fairfield is situated on a rolling, immensely wooded 200-acre
campus overlooking Long Island Sound. The name fits well as a
nickname because the Stag is a good jumper and it spirited and
agile, as Fairfield would like all of its student-athletes to be.
