Exit of the Day: OnRamp to a Fighting Blue Hen that promises a Flying Future!

I-95 Delaware Northbound Exit 1b To: DE 896, to Newark, Middletown, near Newark, DE


Ok now it’s time for a Road Test so get ready to hear the Fast Facts.


Folks you are now in Delaware. Congratulations. Really.  Nearby is the home of the University of Delaware.  Originally surrounded by farmland nearby Newark, Delaware is now surrounded by housing developments -- although farmland plays an important part in locally based University of Delaware's creation. Both forward thinking and internationally oriented, U Delaware boasts one of the highest number of students from foreign countries as well as ranks in top tiers for chemical engineering and bio-engineering as well as International Business. Perhaps that is because of the presence of locally headquartered chemical giant, Du Pont Corporation.  

Beginning in 1802, not long after the American Revolution, globally oriented DuPont was originally a manufacturer of gunpowder. Today the industrial behemoth is the creator of such famed products as teflon, velcro, kevlar and even nylon — amongst about a million other things!

​U.D. is a so-called “land-grant”  university. Land grant colleges began after 1862 in a program whereby government land would be converted into college property.   Before land grant colleges existed, most Private Universities only served the nation’s rich and elite. Think the Ivy League with its sky high tuitions.


Land Grant colleges specifically focused on teaching useful trades, like farming and engineering, mostly to poor citizens.  This heritage is likely why the mascot of University of Delaware is a farm animal: The University of Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens.

And since hens are quite nasty when provoked, they also fit the fighting spirit of the student body at sports games. Right?


Speaking of useful trades like engineering and farming, one former Fighting Blue Hen has the useful trade of throwing touchdowns for millions of dollars. How many millions of dollars? Say about one hundred and twenty millions of dollars.


University of Delaware grad Joe Flacco has a record for being one of the best post-season quarterbacks to play football.

He has tied Hall Of Famer, Joe Montana for most points in Post Season Games and having won the Super Bowl in 2012 with the nearby Baltimore Ravens over Joe Montana’s former team, The San Francisco Forty Niners, I’d say Flacco has won the bragging rights.


No chicken wing he — Joe is alleged to have the strongest arm in the league. They say this empowers Joe Flacco to have an aggressive deep downfield game which is a high risk threat to the defending squad. ​

​If birds are not Mr Flacco’s animal of choice, they should be. This Blue Hen turned Raven was born in nearby Audubon, New Jersey and attended Audubon High School. 

But given his arm strength I will not call Joe “Bird brained” — at least not to his face. I say this not just because he can cold cock me with some serious fists, I say that because Joe Flacco is a real class act. Joe dearly loves the University of Delaware. In an occupation of great wealth and generous college alums, Joe Flacco broke another record. In 2018, the university touted "a significant gift to the future of UD Athletics" made by the alumnus and his wife, Dana, as the largest gift from a UD football alumnus in all the NFL. The exact amount has not been disclosed.

Finally, another Joe is a University of Delaware alumnus who also hopes to win with the long game. That Joe is President Joe Biden. President Joe Biden  graduated from University of Delaware in 1965.  

Also an enthusiastic alumnus, Biden has a school there named for him: the “Biden Institute of Public Policy and Administration.” ​

Now for the Road Test: who is the college's fine feathered mascot?  You have three seconds. Three…. and two….and One. If you said Fighting Blue Hens, then go to the head of your class.  And if you are already attending University of Delaware, that means you are amongst a lot of very smart kids. So great job!


#UniversityofDelaware #FightingBlueHens #NewarkDelaware #Delaware #UD #engineering #StudyAbroad #DuPont #JoeFlacco ​

---