Citronaut
| Citronaut | |
|---|---|
Original Mascot of the University of Central Florida
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| University | University of Central Florida |
| Conference | The American |
| Description | Anthropomorphic orange |
| First seen | Fall 1968 |
| Related mascot(s) | Knightro, Glycerin (retired) |
The Citronaut was the first mascot of Florida Technical University, which later became The University of Central Florida. The mascot appeared on the first student handbook in 1968–1969. After one year, students petitioned the Student Government to establish a new mascot for the university. In 1970, students approved "Knights of the Pegasus" as the second official university mascot, which remains to this day.
The Citronaut was designed by Norman Van Meter, the brother-in-law of FTU's then-president Charles N. Millican in an attempt to combine the two major themes of Central Florida at the time: the space program and the citrus industry. UCF was founded in 1963 to provide personnel to support NASA at the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As the academic scope of the university broadened, it was renamed to The University of Central Florida in 1978. Additionally, Florida produces approximately 100 million boxes of citrus annually.
Since 2014, the Citronaut has experienced a renaissance in university publications, athletics programing, and merchandise.
May 10th, 2014 - UCF Baseball proclaimed Citronaut Day
September 19th, 2015 - UCF Men's Soccer played in fauxback Citronaut uniforms
Spring 2016 - Knights in Space
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