Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports With the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on the horizon, let’s jump back into the world of mascots as we pull back the curtain on the bad boy of the ministry...the Wake Forest Demon Deacon. Origins Wake Forest’s mascot dates back to the 1920s, when a member of the school’s newspaper gave the football team the nickname of ‘Demon Deacons’ after a devilish win over the Trinity Blue Devils who now go by the name of Duke Blue Devils. Previously, the school was known as the ‘Baptists,’ or ‘The Old Gold and Black.’