Chief Moccanooga

{{Short description|Former athletic mascot of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga}}

{{Refimprove|date=February 2013}}

Chief Moccanooga was the former athletic mascot for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, until 1996, when the university abandoned the mascot{{cite news|last=Spear|first=Ken LeVon|title='Inappropriate' UTC Mascot Axed|url=http://www.darkfiber.com/utcmascot/CFP3jul96.html|accessdate=8 December 2012|newspaper=Chattanooga Free Press|date=3 July 1996}} as potentially offensive{{cite news|last=Spear|first=Ken LeVon|title=Indians Rap UTC Mascot|url=http://www.darkfiber.com/utcmascot/CFP4jan96.html|accessdate=8 December 2012|newspaper=Chattanooga Free Press|date=4 January 1996}} at the request of the Chattanooga InterTribal Association. Chief Moccanooga was replaced with a mockingbird, the state bird of Tennessee, and the nickname for Chattanooga athletics was changed from 'Moccasins' to simply 'Mocs'.

Chattanooga's decision to remove Chief Moccanooga as mascot was similar to the actions of several other athletic franchises. In 1986, Chief Noc-A-Homa, the former drum-thumping mascot of Major League Baseball's the Atlanta Braves, was removed. The Cleveland Indians continued to employ a potentially offensive Native American mascot, Chief Wahoo until 2018.