In 1980, about a year after Randolph Technical Institute became Randolph Technical College, the Board of Trustees approved the armadillo as the official school mascot and the official school colors of silver and blue. The armadillo was chosen through a student vote, lead by the Student Government Association. Although there have been at least two movements to change the mascot to something else over the years, the students have voted each time to keep the armadillo.

The faculty, staff, and students have embraced the armadillo mascot. Many images of the mascot can be seen around campus. A mounted armadillo which adorns the administration hallway was discovered in the belongings of Alton Cox, who willed his estate to the Randolph Community College Foundation. The RCC Campus Store houses one mounted and two ceramic armadillos. Armadillo images have been used on Student Government T-shirts, as a logo on staff/faculty polo shirts worn by a large number of the staff on registration days, and armadillo crossing signs are seen at various places around campus. When the Randolph County planning office was naming all area streets for implementation of the 911 system, the back drive of the Asheboro Campus was dubbed Armadillo Drive.

What we know about our mascot:

Armadillos are nocturnal, burrowing New World mammals with a distinctive armor-encased body. They belong to the family Dasypodidae, order Edentata. They comprise nine genera and about 20 species, each differentiated by the number of plates between the front and rear plates. The name armadillo was first used by the early Spanish explorers and means “small armored one.” Armadillo fossils have been found in North and South America.

A patterned, hornlike, brown to pink armor composed of bony plates covers the upper and side surfaces and parts of the legs and undersides. Hair grows between the plates, and on the armored underside of the animal. If overtaken by an enemy, armadillos draw in their feet and nose, and some species roll into a ball. The nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, is found from the southcentral and southeastern United States through South America. Its head and body are about 41 cm (16 in) long, the tail is an additional 36 cm (14 in), and the weight is up to 8 kg (18 lb). It feeds at night on frogs, snakes, insects, carrion, and plant matter.

All other armadillos live in Central and South America. The largest is the giant armadillo, Priodontes giganteus, of eastern South America, which is often 150 cm (5 ft) long and weighs up to 60 kg (130 lb).

(The 1995 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia)