In a college landscape cluttered with dozens of Wildcats, Bulldogs or Eagles, a moniker such as “the Valiants” tends to stand out. So much so that Manhattanville College is the only NCAA squad at any level that sports the distinctive Valiant nickname.
The origin of the unique nickname is traced back to the winter of 1974, when the Valiant men’s basketball team was engaged in a blowout against Sarah Lawrence University on the Saturday before finals. Tim Cohane, Sr., the sports editor of Look Magazine for more than 20 years and the father of then men’s basketball coach Tim Cohane, was sitting in the stands and let his mind wander, eventually beginning to think about possible nicknames for the former all-women’s college, whose women's teams had gone by the term "Villains."
After first thinking of Prince Valiant, Cohane, Sr. – who was well versed in medieval literature – then came up with a 15th century quote from Jacques Coeur:
“A coeur vaillant, rien d'impossible,” translated into English as, “To the valiant of heart, nothing is impossible.”
According to tradition, the Manhattanville side overcame a sizable second-half deficit to emerge victorious on that afternoon. Attempting to capitalize on that inspiration, the Manhattanville men's programs adopted the distinctive slogan as their own – the women's teams joined up a few years later in 1978 – and all Manhattanville teams have been known as the Valiants ever since.
Below is a small sampling of the Manhattanville Athletics logos used throughout the years...
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1979-80 Basketball Programs
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1980-81 Women's Basketball
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1997-98 Basketball Programs
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