Long before it was the thing to do, Belmont University did the right thing | Estes

Most current Belmont University students weren’t even born when the school’s athletics teams called themselves the Rebels and Confederate flags would turn up occasionally.

All the changes we're seeing now, don't forget that Belmont did the right thing – unprompted – a quarter century ago.

So long ago, in fact, people aren't talking about it now. And that shows just how far ahead of the curve former Belmont president William Troutt was in 1995.

Just as Belmont was moving from NAIA to NCAA Division I athletics in the mid-1990s, thus increasing its exposure nationally, Troutt didn’t want to be that university. He didn’t want the "Rebels" name – and all that it entailed – to introduce Belmont to a wider audience.

So he led the change, forming a committee that selected the nickname Bruins – based off the history of a bear being housed on campus – that the school’s sports teams have used since then.

“I felt for a while that we were growing and had aspirations to grow a lot,” said Troutt, Belmont’s president from 1982-99, “and you just knew that ‘Rebel’ would convey the wrong message to the larger public, to prospective student-athletes. We wanted to get out ahead of the curve. Nobody was coming to me with a petition or concerns. … It was just the right thing to do.”

Eventually, you figure, Rebels nicknames will go away. Ole Miss has taken steps over the years, changing its mascot, but its teams are still the Rebels. Same for UNLV.

At the high school level, the Rebels nickname remains popular. The most prominently successful high school football team in Tennessee – Maryville – is called the Rebels.

The winds are blowing hard for cultural change, though. From Mississippi removing the Confederate symbol from its state flag to Confederate monuments being torn down to NASCAR banning the Confederate flag at races, these changes – while undeniably significant – also have been cause-and-effect in arrival.

They’ve largely appeared reactive more than proactive, as if it sadly took the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery to finally regard Confederate imagery and symbols as offensive.

Belmont, though, did the right thing long before it was the thing to do.

That's remarkable, and even more so now, as many other schools continue to wrestle with what to do about a “Rebels” name.

“The problem is schools have tried to pour a different meaning into the words ‘Rebels,’” Troutt said. “You think Luke Skywalker and all that, but the most enduring image – no matter what you do – is still the old South, the Civil War and slavery. Those are just such strong images that I don’t know how you pour a different kind of image into the name that makes it acceptable to most people today.”

You also might think the change at Belmont was difficult – or at least controversial or unpopular. But it really wasn’t. At the time, it really didn’t even attract much attention. The profile of Belmont’s athletics program, despite a powerhouse NAIA men’s basketball team coached by Rick Byrd, wasn’t close to what it is now (largely because of Byrd's continued success).

Troutt said he received a “fair amount” of negative mail, but “there were no scary encounters.” Almost all of the negative responses, he said, came from outside the university community.

“Several people contacted me that felt like we were ‘losing our heritage,’” Troutt said, “which of course, was an irrelevant statement. We were just trying to have a solid athletic program that reflected a wonderful institution.”

Belmont’s campus largely embraced the move, Troutt said, and it still does.

“(Dr. Troutt) recognized that the historic significance and resulting offensive nature of the term ‘Rebels’ did not reflect the university’s core values, and took bold and decisive steps,” Belmont athletics director Scott Corley said in a statement.

After his time at Belmont, Troutt became president at Rhodes College in Memphis, where he worked until retirement in 2017.

His move for Belmont, however, has continued to be worth remembering.

“I was totally convinced it was the right decision at the time,” Troutt said, “and history has proved it to be a good decision.”

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.