What Was The Sucker State?

If you opened up to page 10 of the sports section of The Kokomo Tribune on Wednesday, May 6, 1931, you would have read the following byline.

“SUCKERS DEFEAT MICHIGAN, 10-6, TO GAIN TOP ROUND OF LADDER”

The rest of the article describes the fifth straight victory of the University of Illinois baseball team, but why were they called the Suckers? Isn’t the university’s nickname the Fighting Illini? That is due to the state’s unofficial nickname at the time.

Illinois was known as “The Sucker State”. A term that has its origins beginning sometime in the 1820s. Just like its neighbors to the east in Indiana, where the origin of the name Hoosiers is widely debate, why were people from Illinois once called Suckers?

There are several origin stories, but the most popular theory was due to the influx of people traveling down the Mississippi River to work in the mines in Galena in the 1820s and then returning home in the fall. The Galena residents would refer to them as “Suckers” since they followed the same travel pattern as a species of the same name. 

The Mississippi River is home to both the blue and white sucker, two fish that suck up organic matter from the bottom of rivers and streams. The sucker fish makes an annual migration upstream to its spawning grounds around the same time as the seasonal miners arriving in Galena. The locals did not desire the fish and did not care for the influx of around 7,000 people, most considered ruffians, to their town.

A collection of headlines from various newspapers during from 1905-1927.

The name was more commonly used for the southern part of the state but found its way to describe the whole state in the newspapers. The Sucker State never became the official nickname, but even Abraham Lincoln was called a sucker in newspaper print of the time. On May 17, 1955, the Illinois General Assembly approved “The Land of Lincoln” as the state’s official slogan.

“Badger Hopes Smashed by Sucker Five” from  The Indianapolis Star from March 1, 1927

In the meantime, many sports teams from Illinois were called “suckers”.  One of the earliest was the Davenport Daily Times, which described the Peoria victory over the Davenport club in the Central Interstate League in 1888. Newspapers at the time also described teams from Indiana as the “Hoosiers” when Davenport lost to Crawfordsville later that season.

The Freeport Pretzels were a minor league team from 1905-1915. As if their name was not great, they were sometimes called the Suckers. Freeport, Illinois, adopted the name “The Pretzel City” in 1885 due to its many German bakeries. Today, the high school adopted the name for its sports teams. 

The Danville Roller Polo Club of the Central Polo League, which we talked about before on this site, was constantly referred to as the Suckers by sports reporters of Lafayette, Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. However, Illinois newspapers called them the Pastimes. 

“Suckers in great form as they trounce the Railroaders by the score of 7 to 3” 

The state motto was found on the campus of the University of Illinois, known as the Fighting Illini since 1874. Everything from baseball, football, track and field, and debate teams were referred to as the Suckers. 

“Buckeyes Play Flashy Football to Down Suckers and Win First Conference Game” from the Evansville Courier & Press on November 26, 1922

The University of Illinois debate team defeated the Indiana University debate team 2-1.

However, perhaps the best use of the term was when the debate team faced off in Champaign against their foes from Indiana University with a headline that read “SUCKERS DEFEAT HOOSIERS” and won 2 points to 1 point. The Illinois team won by stating that Congress should aid the shipping industry in building steamships in the country to be at the service in times of war.

“SUCKERS GRAPPLERS WIN FROM CRIMSON MAT MEN”  from The Indianapolis Star on February 18, 1922.

Eventually, the term fell out of use by the 1930s, and the state of Illinois rid itself of the official motto, when shortened, could mean something else for its citizens and its sports teams. That didn’t stop The Terre Haute Tribune from referring to the Indiana Normal football team as the “Sucker State Eleven” in an October 31, 1949 article.

By the mid-1950s Illinois was known as either “The Prairie State” or “The Land of Lincoln”, with its old motto tossed out and quickly forgotten within a few years. Many today would be surprised to know that “The Sucker State” was once the state’s unofficial motto but don’t expect to see it appear on any license plates or team uniforms any time soon.

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Follow all of Marc’s stadium journeys on Twitter @ballparkhunter and his YouTube channel. Email at Marc.Viquez@stadiumjourney.com