ASHLAND -- Longtime Southern Oregon professor Dr. Arthur Kreisman, who gave the Raider athletic teams their nickname in 1946, passed away Jan. 13.

Dr. Kreisman joined the Southern Oregon College staff in 1946 and spent 35 years as a professor, department chair and historian at the school. As the head of the school's sports publicity early in his tenure, he named the Southern Oregon athletic teams the "Red Raiders of the Rogue" in an effort to rid the programs of the "SONS" moniker, which stood for Southern Oregon Normal School.

Local media initially disliked the new name, complaining that it was too long for a headline before finally settling on "Red Raiders." The school officially dropped "Red" from the nickname in 1980, going simply by "Raiders" ever since.

Dr. Kreisman's time at the school included time serving in numerous director and department chair positions. Perhaps his most public - and little-known - legacy at the university comes from his first year at the school when he created an athletic identity that has lasted nearly 70 years.

To learn more about Dr. Kreisman, read his obituary in Thursday's Daily Tidings here.