SKETCHING
Jayhawk History One illustrator’s different take on Jayhawk Words by Morgan Said
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Contributed by the Spencer Research Library
Jayhawks drawn by Paul Coker. His Jayhawks came in all shapes and sizes and showed an extra sense of Jayhawk personality.
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aul Coker, a 1951 graduate with a degree in art, left his mark on the University of Kansas with his own version of the Kansas Jayhawk on the front cover of the Jayhawker Yearbook. Coker, a Lawrence native, recalls most of his time spent at the University working on art and illustrations for various classes and events. He quickly became known as an artist on campus. “Once you get the reputation, you follow it,� Coker says. “If you can do whatever you do slightly better than your peers, then you become whatever that is.� Because of Coker’s artistic ability, he was asked to draw a different version of the Jayhawk for the 1949 Jayhawker Yearbook. He belonged to an honor’s society group and initially drew his version of the Jayhawk for the group to sell it at various events, but then the University approached him. “I can’t actually remember being given the job of designing the
Jayhawk,� Coker says. Regardless, Coker’s Jayhawk was printed on the front cover of the Jayhawker Yearbook in the spring of 1949. The Jayhawk drawn for the yearbook isn’t the only mascot Coker created in Lawrence. In 1946 Coker drew the Chesty Lion mascot for his alma mater, Lawrence High School, as a promotional piece to help sell Lawrence High’s yearbook. The drawing is still used today. Coker says that his Jayhawk and his creation of Chesty Lion are the only reasons Lawrence residents remember his name. But his success didn’t end there. After graduating from the University and moving away from Lawrence, Coker continued with his passion in art and illustration. Perhaps the most notable job Coker took on was his role in illustrating the characters for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer� and “Frosty the Snowman.� Still, Coker says, there were many other people involved in the creation of these characters.
“I get the credit for these things, and yet lots and lots of people are involved,â€? Coker says. “For instance, someone had to write the VWRU\ Ă€UVW VRPHRQH KDG WR GR WKH song and music. All I did was take the script that was sent to me by the movie producer and draw the characters that occurred to me in the script.â€? &RNHU VD\V WKDW DOO RI KLV Ă€HOG experience helped shape him into a great artist. ´6FKRRO LV Ă€QH EXW \RX OHDUQ DV much in a week at a commercial establishment than you would in four years of school,â€? Coker says. “That’s an exaggeration, but not much.â€? Coker currently resides in Santa Fe, N.M., which he refers to as an “art town,â€? and does work for MAD magazine, along with other freelance work. “Whatever I do, I try to enterWDLQ P\VHOI Âľ &RNHU VD\V ´, Ă€JXUH if I’m not entertained by what I do, then whoever sees my stuff won’t be entertained either. So, I entertain myself.â€?