Longtime Franklin cheerleader, athlete and referee Jim Hedglin had a letter-to-the-editor in the newspaper Oct. 2 detailing how, why, when and where Franklin High School's nickname became the Knights.

Franklin was not always the Knights. Franklin athletic teams used to be called the Nurserymen or Nursery -- as in "The Nursery of Great Men." (Eyeball roll.)

Only trouble was, rivals poked fun of the name, hanging diapers, baby bottles and cribs on their walls when they played Franklin in a home game.

This caused much embarrassment to Franklin athletes.

So, in 1954, a committee was formed -- this was all in Hedglin's letter -- to come up with a new nickname. 

Since the Cranberry Super Berry was already taken, one student, Dave Synder, nominated Knights after seeing a movie called "Ivanhoe," which was filled with knights.

(Snyder, by the way, grew up with future Oil City coach Pat Patterson in Utica. Patterson was originally from Oil City but eventually moved to Utica. He played football with Patterson at Franklin and against him in college.)

And while Patterson eventually made his way back to Oil City, Snyder spent his adult life in Titusville where he would become "The Voice of the Rockets."

Anyhow, I degress.

Snyder  liked the Ivanhoe movie with all the tough-guy knights and suggested the name to the committee, which took It to the Franklin school board. The board said yes, and Franklin had a new name -- and no more diapers.

Two things before I close.

1. The News-Herald would refer to Franklin as the Red and Black, not the Nursery, in sports stories in the early part of the 20th century.

2. I thought "Knights" came about since the yearbook is called "The Franklinite." Get it? Franklinite. Franklin Knight. ...But I guess not.

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FOOTNOTE: Franklin's nickname was the "Millionaires" early in the 200th century.