Sparty

Sparty
Sparty at a baseball game between Michigan State and the Lansing Lugnuts in 2007.
University	Michigan State University
Conference	Big Ten
Description	Male Spartan warrior

The Spartan ("Sparty")
The location of the two "Sparty" statues.
Artist	Leonard Jungwirth (sculptor)
Year	1945 (terra cotta) 2005 (bronze)
Type	Statue (Modernist, Futurist, Cubist)
Medium	Bronze and Terra Cotta
Subject	Spartan mascot
Dimensions	9 ft 7 in (2.92 m) tall
Location	East Lansing, Michigan
Coordinates	Bronze 42°43′52″N 84°29′15″W / 42.7311°N 84.4874°W / 42.7311; -84.4874 Terra Cotta 42°43′41″N 84°29′10″W / 42.7281°N 84.4861°W / 42.7281; -84.4861
Website	Sparty Project

Sparty is the mascot of Michigan State University. Sparty is usually depicted as a muscular male Spartan warrior/athlete dressed in stylized Greek costume. After changing the team name from "Aggies" to "Spartans" in 1925, various incarnations of a Spartan warrior with a prominent chin appeared at university events and in university literature. In 1943, MSU art professor Leonard D. Jungwirth designed a statue for the university, which had to be cast in terra cotta because of World War II rationing. In 2005, the university replaced Jungwirth's original statue with a bronze replica, moving the original indoors to protect it from the elements.

Sparty appears in several other incarnations. In printed literature, the university uses a copyrighted cartoon Spartan, usually drawn with a grimace and several days worth of whiskers, lending the nickname of "Gruff" Sparty. Finally, Sparty appears as a foam rubber mascot with an oversized head. The mascot costume, worn by an anonymous student, appears at most university sporting, alumni, and fundraising events; he is often portrayed in MSU notices and materials.

Though MSU is now a large university, in the 19th century it was a small agricultural college known as the State Agricultural College of Michigan. Thus, when the college fielded its first intercollegiate sports teams in the 1880s, the teams were appropriately named the "Aggies". By 1925, the school had expanded beyond agriculture, becoming Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. To reduce the emphasis on agriculture, the college held a contest to choose a new team name. The chosen entry was the "Michigan Staters." George S. Alderton, then sports editor of the Lansing State Journal, and Dale Stafford, sportswriter for the Lansing Capitol News, felt the name was too unwieldy for newspaper headlines and searched the contest entries for a better choice. They settled on the "Spartans", a name submitted by former Aggie athlete Perry J. Fremont. Alderton and Stafford began using the name in their game accounts, and it soon caught on as the de facto team name. Michigan State's teams have been the Spartans ever since.