These Birds Aren’t Real, But the Schools Are
by Bryon Houlgrave
What is a Kohawk? Or a Duhawk? While they may sound like radical hairstyles, they’re actually mascots that represent Coe and Loras colleges.
The Kohawks of Coe College will host Loras and the Duhawks in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 at 7 p.m., which will be broadcast on air statewide and livestreamed on our Facebook and YouTube channels, as well as our website.
Charlie Kohawk has been Coe College’s mascot since 1922. Prior to that they were just recognized as the Crimson and Gold. The school narrowly escaped being just another Trojan or Ranger or Rambler, adding it to an already lengthy list of yawn-worthy college mascots. But a contest was held and the chairman of the German department, C.W. Perkins, conceptualized and developed the Kohawk.
Ko is a native American word that means “like the,” Perkins explained in a letter at the time. With Iowa being the Hawkeye State it made sense to connect the words ko and hawk. The Kohawk is similar in appearance to a hawk, and Charlie Kohawk wears a crimson jersey with a capital C in gold on the chest.
The Duhawks moniker was bestowed upon Loras – then Columbia College – in 1924 by a Detroit Free-Press sports reporter who was working on a football preview story. Columbia had no mascot at the time so the reporter called the football team the Dubuque Hawks on first reference, then combined it to Duhawks later on in the story. The name stuck, to the chagrin of some school officials, and following some mascot controversy two years later a school newspaper printed a photo of the Columbia football team with the title “1926 Columbia Duhawks.”
The Duhawk, similar to the Kohawk, looks very much like a hawk. Dewey the Duhawk wears a purple football shirt with Vegas gold Loras written across the chest.
While the birds represented by each mascot may be fictional, the rivalry between their wrestling programs has become very real. The wrestling history between Coe and Loras dates back to Jan. 24, 2015 when Coe bested the Duhawks 25-15 at a meet hosted by Simpson College in Indianola. The Duhawks have had a 6-4 series lead over Coe since then.
“We got Coe and Loras, which always comes down to the last match of the evening for the last three or four years,” said Jim Miller, a legendary wrestler and coach who will call the meets this season for Iowa PBS. “Man, we got some good stuff coming.”
College Wrestling Returns to Iowa PBS
College Wrestling has returned to Iowa PBS. Usher in a new era of wrestlers as College Wrestling makes its triumphant return showcasing five exciting small college duals, including powerhouse programs from Division II, Division III and the NAIA.
Upcoming live coverage will be as follows*:
- Tuesday, January 21: Loras College vs. Coe College
- Thursday, January 30: Augsburg University vs. Wartburg College
- Thursday, February 6: Central College vs. Luther College
- Tuesday, February 11: William Penn University vs. Grand View University Women
*Coverage and start times are subject to change.