Fourth Congressional District A&M School, 1907 - April 1933
West Georgia College, May 1933 - June 1996
State University of West Georgia, June 1996 - Jan. 2005
University of West Georgia, Jan. 2005 - present
Red and blue became the official colors of the Fourth District Agricultural & Mechanical School on February 20, 1908. Those colors have endured through the many changes of our institution.
McIntosh Stone, 1980 - 1997
Flame, 1997 - 2017
Shield, 2017 - present
McIntosh Stone
(Originally located at McIntosh Reserve, then placed onto front campus in 1916, and since 2017 on a 99-year loan back to the McIntosh Reserve)
The stone, a stepping block used to assist people in mounting their horse, was originally located at Lochchau Talafau, the Carroll County residence of Creek Indian Chief William McIntosh on the Chattahoochee River. McIntosh was massacred in 1825 by members of the Creek tribe angered by his unlawful signing of a treaty. The McIntosh Stone was donated by Georgia Railway and Power Company to the Fourth District Agricultural & Mechanical School in 1916. At the time of the donation, students and faculty of the School retrieved the stone and placed it on Front Campus Drive. In 1980 it became the official college logo with the accompanying motto 'Step up to West Georgia.' Students were told that the rock stands as a symbol of college. The first step is steeper than the rest and much like the first year at college it is the hardest step. Afterwards, the college experience becomes easier as you move your way up.
"West Georgia has been identified with several mascots since the early days. For a brief time, the Fourth District Agricultural & Mechanical School football team was called the Tigers before the school adopted the Aggies mascot. When the school became West Georgia College in 1933, it desired a new mascot. Students chose the Braves. Caricatures of Native Americans had been used as mascots since the late nineteenth century, and the team name “Braves” was chosen by a professional baseball team in Boston in 1912 (the team moved to Atlanta in 1966)-- choices that have long been opposed by groups such as the National Congress of American Indians. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association created a policy that barred NCAA colleges and universities from using 'hostile and abusive racial/ethnic/national origin mascots.' West Georgia quickly moved to adopt a new mascot by student vote in 2006, choosing the Wolves (over such possibilities as the Dragons)." Text written by Shanee' Y. Murrain, University Archivist, 2019.
John Melson
1st principal of Fourth District Agricultural & Mechanical School, 1907-1920
Irvine S. Ingram
2nd principal of Fourth District Agricultural & Mechanical School, 1902-1933
1st president of West Georgia College 1933-1960
After Row died in office, president again briefly 1961
William H. Row
1960-1961 March
James E. Boyd
1961-1971
Ward B. Pafford
1971-1975
Maurice K. Townsend
1975-1993
Beheruz Sethna
1994-2013
Kyle Marrero
2013-2019 February
Brendan B. Kelly
2020-present