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University Daily Kansan, August 18, 1983
Jayhawks
From page 1
His inspiration for the cartoon was a paper chicken holding a KU pennant on his shoulder.
Maloy's Jayhawk had an oversized head, a prominent beak and long, skinny legs. But Maloy would later suggest that it was the shoes that made the bird.
He put shoes on the Jayhawk because he wanted to portray it kicking rival mascots. From 1910 to the present, most artists have retained the shoes in their costumes of the original KU Jayhawk, the main exception being the Jayhawk of 1920.
THE 1920 JAYHAWK, which was of unknown origin, was a somber bird perched on a KU monogram. It was the only Jayhawk realistically resembling a bird to gain wide acceptance.
Drawings of the Jayhawk returned to the caricature motif in 1923 when two KU students, Jimmy O'Bryon and George Hollinberg, collaborated on a short, squat, duck-like bird with "KU" monogrammed on its side.
All KU Jayhawks after 1923 retained both the general shape and the monogram of O'Bryan and Hollibery's bird.
In 1929 the first "fighting" Jayhawk was designed by Forrest O. Calvin at
the request of Fred Ellsworth of the Alumni Association.
Calvin, a KU student, brought the Jayhawk's beak up so that it was looking forward inwards at down. He forwarded the instructors up and gave the Jayhawk yellow shoes
No significant changes in the Jay-bawk occurred again until 1941.
IN 1914 GENE "YOGI" Williams, a KU student, drew what is essentially the present Jayhawk. Williams' Jayhawk differs from the older model and shoe position. Other than those slight modifications, the Jayhawks are identical.
In 1946 Harold D Sandy, a KU student, modified the Jayhawk under the direction of Ed Browne, who was the Public Relations Director of the University. Browne wanted the Jayhawk to have a happier expression.
Williams had given the Jayhawk a fierce look. Sandy simply raised the bird's eyebrows, widened its beak and put its forward shoe in a walking
Sandy called the bird an adaptation from all previous Jayhawks, but especially from the one on campus when he arrived at KU.
He said of Williams, "This man, whose nickname was Yogi, was truly the most inventive Jayhawk designer of all time."
WILLIAMS NOT ONLY designed the
1941 Jayhawk, but also those created for the School of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health, all of which are still in use today.
The Jayhawk mascot that appears at football and basketball games arrived on the scene in the 1950s. Baby Jay was hatched from a giant egg on the 50-yard line at half-time of the KU—K-State football game on Oct. 9, 1971.
The Jayhawk has a rich history and a unique heritage. Its roots are deep in Kansas tradition, and its maturation is the product of successful KU students.
Although "Jayhawk" may not evoke the nobility of "Trojan" or the beauty of "Crimson Tide," it is a name to be proud of.
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