Hail
’Hawks to the
1912 by student Henry Maloy, c’14, to the wartime fighting Jay that Eugene “Yogi” Williams, m’54, sketched in 1941. Sandy still recalls the day R. Edwin Browne, c’38, g’57, then director of public relations for KU, called him into his Strong Hall office to make a simple request: make a happier postwar mascot for the University. With tracing paper, a pen and India ink, Sandy obliged. “It was the only
cartoon I ever made, ever drew, in my life,” he says. “The only reason it lasted so long is the foundation was so stunning, so striking.” Shortly after he graduated, Sandy sold the Kansas Union Bookstore the rights to his bird for a mere $250. “Made us millions,” he jokes, laughing. Sandy’s smiling bird inspired artists who created their own renditions for the 2003 Jayhawks on Parade project
(see story, p. 33). Fueled by the parade’s success, the Alumni Association planned a reprise for KU’s 150th anniversary. After enlisting the help of Ottawa-based fiberglass builder ATC Composites to fashion a new mold, the Association selected three Lawrence artists to add their own flourishes to a new flock of birds.
EARL RICHARDSON
Local artists pay tribute to 150 years of tradition with new twists on our treasured mascot
A
s the University celebrates its sesquicentennial, another anniversary also demands attention: 70 years ago, Hal Sandy drew the jovial Jayhawk that has stood the test of time. When Sandy, j’47, arrived on campus after serving in World War II, the beloved bird had gone through several transformations, from the leggy, quasihuman mascot designed in
By Heather Biele Photographs by Steve Puppe
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