Youngstown State Vintage Penguin Logo Dad Hat

There are a couple conflicting stories about how the Youngstown State nickname came about, but we do know that students started calling themselves the “Penguins” during a basketball game in early 1933. The name stuck, and it became official when the first football team was formed in 1938. To this day, YSU is the only NCAA Division I school with a penguin for a mascot.