Low-tech edition
Low-tech edition
Lawrence, Kansas
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
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You probably know that the Jayhawk is the official mascot for Kansas University. But what you might not know is how the mythical bird came to be the symbol for KU or how the mascot's look has changed over the last century. And here's one more piece of trivia: a couple of other mascots preceded the Jayhawk, a bulldog and a live pig. But the Jayhawk and its colorful ties to early Kansas history caught the imagination of fans. And it has gone on to rule the mascot roost.
Early sightings
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So which came first, the Jayhawk or KU? The answer is the Jayhawk, which goes back to Kansas' pre-Civil War days. The name combines two birds: A noisy, quarrelsome blue jay and a stealthy, cunning sparrow hawk. "We had the word Jayhawk, a long time before we had the bird," said James Carothers, a KU English professor who serves somewhat as the unofficial historian of KU traditions. In a recent segment of the 6Productions' TV program "River City Weekly," Carothers said the first time the term Jayhawk was used came in 1849, when someone on their way to the California gold fields said he was just going to jayhawk his way across the country. "Jayhawking, I think, means take what you want," Carothers said.
Free State days
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In Kansas' territorial days, the word "jayhawk" was used to describe the Freestaters' robbing, looting and lawlessness across the Missouri borders. Carothers said the name "jayhawks" was adopted by a band of pro-Unionist, who called themselves "Jennison's Jayhawks." "They were the people who got Quantrill so mad that he came in and burned Lawrence," Carothers said. During the Civil War, a regiment raised by Gov. Charles Robinson called themselves the "Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawks." By the time the war was over, the term had changed meaning slightly to be associated more with the friendship and camaraderie of freestaters.
Early drawings
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By the time KU was founded, there had been a long tradition of calling Kansans "Jayhawks." So it seemed appropriate for the school to take the Jayhawk as its mascot, he said. By 1886, KU had adopted the jayhawk as part of the KU rallying yell - "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, KU!" And when the first football team took to the field in 1890, they were known as the Jayhawkers. "But the bird itself wasn't actually drawn until 1912," Carothers said. While others may have tried their hand at depicting the mythical bird earlier, Henry Maloy is given credit for drawing the first modern version of the Jayhawk, he said. Maloy entered KU and began drawing his conception of the bird for the student newspaper and for other publications about 1910. He gets credit for putting shoes on the Jayhawk, so it could kick around the Missouri Hound Dog.
More variations
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By 1920, the Jayhawk looked a little more like a bird. It lost the long legs and boots and sat perched on the letters KU. In the next version, in 1923, the Jayhawk got its red head. And the KU monogram was added to the blue body. Credit for it went to Jimmy O'Bryon and George Hollingberry. The end of the Roaring '20s brought Forrest O. Calvin to KU as a student. Calvin, at the request of Fred Ellsworth of the KU Alumni Association, drew a new 1929 version that put a little school fighting spirit into the 'Hawk. It has glaring eyes and sharp talons. The next version of the Jayhawk came about in 1941. It was created by Dr. Gene "Yogi" Williams. He gave his creation an eagle-like scowl that has led many people to call it the Fighting Jayhawk.
Smiling Jayhawk
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But that wasn't the final word on the bird. Harold D. "Hal" Sandy came along in the late '40s and put a million dollar smile on the Jayhawk. At the end of World War II, Sandy entered KU to study journalism. A friend of his, Fred Browne, convinced Sandy to draw a friendlier version of the Jayhawk. In 1946, Sandy drew what became known as the Smiling or the "Sandy" Jayhawk. Sandy took a job with an Independence, Mo., advertisting agency and gave up the rights to the Jayhawk to the KU Bookstore. In 1978, KU acquired the design from the bookstore and obtained a federal trademark on the image. That led to royalties of the sales of Jayhawk merchandise for KU, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for athletic and academic scholarships for KU students.
Taking it to 3D
After the drawings became popular, the mascots came along - Big Jay and Baby Jay. They serve as sort of the unofficial emissaries of KU goodwill, roaming the sidelines at football games and basketball games and giving hugs to youngsters. "I was here in 1971 or 1972 when Baby Jay popped out of an egg from one of the Homecoming Day floats as it circled the stadium," Carothers said. There was also a Jayhawk mascot from the Kansas University School of Medicine. Baby Doc had a white coat and a stethoscope.
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Rock Chalk Bull Dog?
Steve Jansen, historian for the Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence, said that before KU adopted the costumed 3-D Jayhawk, it had another on-field mascot. "One of the pictures shows that the bulldog was KU's original mascot he said, referring to a drawing of a black and white bulldog holding a red college pennant with a blue "K." "We don't know that much about it. But at one time, they were known as the Kansas University Bulldogs," he said.
Rock Chalk Pork Chop
Then there was the pig mascot of 1909. You'll find a mention of the pig in Larry L. Campbell's 1966 master's thesis titled, "A History of Football at the University of Kansas 1889-1920." Campbell's research quoted a story that appeared on the front page of the Sept. 28, 1909, edition of The Kansan. "According to The Kansan, Assistant Coach Arthur St. Leger Mosse who owned a farm near Leavenworth, presented a thoroughbred Ohio Chesterfield Swine to the 1909 team for its mascot," Campbell wrote. "The team named its mascot, Don Carlos. Each of the men who reported for the team were assessed 10 cents for the purchase of 'shorts, oatmeal and other delicacies' for the mascot. It was arranged for Don Carlos to appear for all the games on McCook Field during the 1909 season." There was no mention of why the pig was named Don Carlos.
