Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2004

FALL 2004
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Surviving Stroke

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>>Excited about Cy

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EXCITED ABOUT CY

It hardly seems possible that Cy, our beloved mascot, celebrates his 50th birthday this year.

The story of Cy the Cardinal goes back to the early fifties when the mascot was only a glint in the eye of Chev Adams, president of the former Collegiate Manufacturing Company of Ames, and Harry Burrell, Iowa State sports information director. The two were struggling to build a stuffed costume that would remotely resemble a column of wind. Frustrated by such a daunting task, Adams begged Burrell to change Iowa State’s nickname from the Cyclones to something that would be more tangible for a mascot, but Burrell was reluctant.

To solve the problem, two contests were held: the first, a student-run challenge to decide once and for all what form the new mascot would take; the other, a nationwide contest to find a fitting name for the character. The consensus among the students – led by Pep Council president Chuck Duncan – confirmed
that you “couldn’t stuff a Cyclone,” so they settled on a cardinal bird based on the school colors, cardinal and gold, and on existing organizations, Cardinal Key and Cardinal Guild.

Collegiate Manufacturing designed the first cardinal costume – after receiving a green light from Alumni Association director W.E. “Red” Barron and Cyclone Club director Ray Donels – at a cost of $200.

Seventeen people submitted the name “Cy” in the nationwide contest. The first to submit the name was Mrs. Ed Ohlsen of Ames. “Cy the Cardinal” (his official name) debuted at the 1954 Homecoming game and has become the enduring symbol of Iowa State athletics.

Virgil Petty (’57 farm op, DVM ’64) was chosen out of pity by the athletic club to be the inaugural Cy after just being cut from the varsity basketball team. He tried out the costume – made mostly from chicken wire and aluminum – at Brown’s Sporting Goods several times before the big game. Petty needed the practice – the overwhelming 8 1/2-foot height and bulging chest of the bird costume made maneuvering cumbersome at best.

That first year, Petty says, students from rival schools kept intercepting the costume before games (it was so large it had to be packed and shipped by train to away games) and holding it for ransom.

“Students stole Cy, kept him captive for ransoms of various sorts, all in good fun,” said Petty. “At times, it resembled a scavenger hunt as we looked for the clues as to Cy’s whereabouts.”

Over the last half century, Cy has undergone several makeovers, redesigns, and life changes. He was reportedly “plucked to death” during the 1961 migration to Missouri, and it took almost a year to replace him. In 1966, he was married to Susie Snapper Hawk, a union that apparently did not stand the test of time.

In 1972, on the way to the Liberty Bowl, the vehicle carrying the Cy costume was in an accident near St. Louis. The costume was bent, mangled, covered with oil, and splattered with battery acid but eventually made its way to Memphis, where a costumer and cleaning establishment worked tirelessly to repair the mascot. Cy made it to the game just in time.

Cy’s most recent transformation occurred in 1995. Today’s reincarnation has a menacing attitude not seen on the cartoon-like prototype that Petty wore
50 years ago. It comes with a bigger price tag, too. Iowa State currently has three different size costumes, each one costing several thousand dollars, says Lawrence Cunningham (’02 liberal studies), the mascot coach. Cunningham is among the hundreds of students over the years that have donned the cardinal-and-gold feathers with pride, and now he stays close to his alter ego by instructing the newest generation of Cys on the finer points of being a mascot.

In the early days, usually only one student portrayed Cy during the school year, his or her name kept secret from students and fans. But with his ever-growing commitments and responsibilities, Cy now commands four to six students year round, with no effort made to hide their identities. Cunningham estimates that Cy is in public more than 200 days out of the year, a job too big for just one student. That is why each spring, as the semester winds to a close, flyers start popping up on campus announcing upcoming Cy tryouts. Cunningham and a panel of judges, made up of spirit squad members and other students, select the most animated candidates to form the next year’s mascot squad.

Making the team is a privilege that comes without glory. The mascot squad gets no pay, no scholarship money, and no official recognition. A member has to be willing to put in countless hours in the bulky suit, travel all over the country for games, and work during the summer as well as the school year.

So why be Cy? For starters, it’s a chance for students who can’t make a sports team, like Petty, to be a part of Cyclone athletics.

“If there is any way to feel the Cyclone spirit, Cyclone pride, Hilton magic – whatever you want to call it – the best way to feel that is to be Cy,” says current mascot squad captain Leigh Streit. “When the team is winning, the crowd is cheering, and I’m out on the field, there is no feeling like it.”

Streit tells a story about being at a football game in Lubbock, Texas. The Cyclones had just lost the game. Texas Tech players were running along the sidelines, giving high fives to Red Raider fans as Cy and the Cyclones slumped off the field. Streit looked up just in time to see a massive Texas Tech lineman headed right for him.

“I panicked,” Streit says. “I thought he was going to run me over.” But just as Streit began to wish Cy could fly, the player wrapped his massive arms around him and held him in a friendly embrace – a testament to the universal likeability that surrounds Cy.

“He’s a celebrity, a diplomat, a friend – everything a person wants to be – all rolled into one,” says Cunningham. Everyone loves Cy. If he’s not at an Iowa State game, he’s at a parade, a community event, a wedding, a private party. There is something about him that brings together people from all
backgrounds, young and old, rich and poor. People are drawn to him and what he represents. That something? That something is called being a Cyclone.

Have a favorite Cy memory to share? Log on and sound off at http://www.isualum.org/go/cy.

About the Writer | Matt Christensen is a senior journalism and mass communication major from East Moline, Ill.