Sparky the Sun Devil | |
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![]() Sparky the Sun Devil performing in 2019 | |
University | Arizona State University |
Conference | Pac-12 |
First seen | September 21, 1951 [1] |
Website | twitter |
Sparky the Sun Devil is the official mascot of Arizona State University.[2] Originally the ASU athletic teams' mascot was an owl, then became a "Normal" (because ASU was founded as a normal school). It was later changed to a bulldog in an attempt to make the school – Arizona State Teacher's College at the time – appear more in line with Yale and other universities that held a higher level of respect.[3] The State Press, the student newspaper, ran frequent appeals during the fall of 1946, urging the Bulldog to be replaced by the new Sun Devil. On November 8, 1946, the student body voted 819 to 196 to make the change. On November 20, as reported by the Arizona Republic, the student council made it official. The following day, the first Arizona State team played as the Sun Devils. Two years later, Stanford Alum and Disney illustrator Berk Anthony designed "Sparky", a devil holding a trident[2] (colloquially referred to as a pitchfork[4]). Anthony is rumored to have based Sparky's facial features on that of his former boss, Walt Disney.[5]