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The Cardinal is Indiana's State Bird . Ball State University in Muncie Indiana adopted the Cardinal as their mascot in 1927 . They named him Charlie . Since I have some family members from Ball State , I rarely see a Cardinal that I don't think of Charlie Cardinal . Originally Ball State was nicknamed the "Hooserions," discontent led to a school newspaper-sponsored contest to find a new nickname. When no acceptable choices came, a committee was formed, and it was a member of this committee, Professor Paul Billy Williams, who came up with the new nickname of Cardinals. He came up with it while talking to Coach Norman G. Wann, another committee member, about how the logo of his favorite team, the Saint Louis Cardinals looked distinctive on the jersey of Rogers Hornsby . Yes, that would be Tick's ,Saint Louis Cardinals .