Baby Jay is one of the costume

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

s of the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

. Together, Big Jay and Baby Jay are Jayhawks and are the mascots used by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. Another mascot named Centennial Jay was temporarily used in 2012. Baby Jay was created by student Amy Sue Hurst and "hatched" at half-time of KU's

Homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

victory in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

over

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

on October 9, 1971, and has served as a mascot ever since.

History

In 1970 Amy Hurst saw a Jayhawk bumper sticker depicting Big Jay and hatchlings, which inspired her to create a new mascot. After talking to a co-worker who was a Big Jay and getting approval from the KU

Alumni Association An alumni association or alumnae association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students ( alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, school A school is the educati ...

she created Baby Jay. The official debut of Baby Jay was October 9, 1971 during the half-time of KU's homecoming game against in-state rivals

. In front of 55,000 fans Big Jay hauled a large egg to the 50-yard line of Memorial Stadium. A few moments later Baby Jay "hatched" from the artificial egg and has served as an ambassador of KU at events across the country ever since. The original costume, which consisted of chicken wire,

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...

, and felt, weighed 30 pounds. The total cost was $53. In 2003, Amy Hurst, the original Baby Jay, started a fund to help cover the cost of the now $5,000 costume that is replaced every two years.

Selection process

The selection process to become Baby Jay is generally during the spring semester. Baby Jay is typically a female student and must be between 4' 11" and 5' 1" tall. The auditioning process may also include 20 minutes of running, performing an entrance and exit routine, emotion and reaction exercises.

Duties

The primary duty of Baby Jay is to be an ambassador of KU, roaming the sidelines at football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games giving hugs to youngsters. Baby Jay, being smaller than Big Jay, is often involved in entertaining children. Baby Jay is also present at most major university events such as athletic competitions, Tradition Night, Band Spectacular, and graduation. Baby Jay is also seen in the community attending weddings, opening the

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

film festival, or even

lobbying Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agency, regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by va ...

legislators to fund higher education. In return for these services Baby Jay receives a $300 scholarship per semester.

History

Selection process

Duties

See also

References

Further reading