Sparky (Arizona State Mascot)

Sparky the Sun Devil
Sparky the Sun Devil performing in 2011
University	Arizona State University
Conference	Pac-12
First seen	September 21, 1951

Sparky the Sun Devil is the official mascot of Arizona State University. Originally the ASU athletic teams' mascot was an owl, then became a "Normal" (named for the Tempe Normal School), then was later changed to a bulldog, in an attempt to make Arizona State Teacher's College at the time appear more in line with Yale and other universities that held a higher level of respect. The State Press, the student newspaper, ran frequent appeals during the fall of 1946, urging the Bulldog to be replaced by the new Sun Devil. On November 8, 1946, the student body voted 819 to 196 to make the change. On November 20, as reported by the Arizona Republic, the student council made it official. The following day, the first Arizona State team played as the Sun Devils. Two years later, alumnus and Disney illustrator Berk Anthony designed "Sparky", a devil holding a trident (colloquially referred to as a pitchfork). Anthony is rumored to have based Sparky's facial features on that of his former boss, Walt Disney. Sparky is officially known as a "mischievous imp", with no other backstory than that.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Orange Julius beverage stands used the image of a devil with a pitchfork around an orange. The company later dropped the logo after threats of a lawsuit from the alumni association.

On March 1, 2013, Arizona State announced they were joining forces with the Walt Disney Company to redesign the mascot costume, as part of an effort to modernize the character, and planned to use the character in comic books, children books and animated features. The school also announced that they planned to continue using the iconic mark in various ways, including marketing and selling apparel alongside the new version of the character. This change was met with backlash from students, alumni, and fans.Arizona State University President Michael Crow indicated that officials were meeting with student leaders to discuss the issue; afterwards, Sparky's new look was scrapped on March 19, 2013. The school later announced that it had created a program for members of the ASU community to vote on Sparky's redesign in which users were able to choose between different features for the mascot. The most popular features were used for a new look that will be fully unveiled at the first football game in the fall of 2013. His updated look includes many of the same features of the older mascot but with different material that is easier to clean. Unlike the more cartoon-like Sparky designed with Disney, the newest version is viewed as more representative of the historical drawing. It received 55% of the vote among 4 choices.