Via NMissCommentor: http://nmisscommentor.com/2010/03/13/colonel-reb-to-be-withdrawn-from-licensing/
Hoopedia has a brief history of the colonel, born in 1938. http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Mississippi_Rebels
The name Rebels as Ole Miss' official athletic nickname emerged in 1936. Suggested by Judge Ben Guider of Vicksburg, it was one of five entries submitted to Southern sports writers for final selection from a list totaling more than 200 proposed nicknames. The promotion was a contest sponsored by The Mississippian, student newspaper. Of the 42 newsmen contacted, 21 responded. "Rebels" was the choice of 18. The University Athletic Committee made the name official with the Committee chairman, the late Judge William Hemingway, stating: "If 18 sports writers wish to use ‘Rebels', I shall not rebel, so let it go ‘Ole Miss Rebels.'" Two years later, the yearbook appeared as "The Rebel Number" with "Colonel Reb" making a new entrance as the publication's leading illustration. "Colonel Rebel" has since become a near-official University insignia.