Big 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 Baby Jay is one of the costume mascots of the Kansas Jayhawks. Together, Big Jay and Baby Jay are Jayhawks and are the mascots used by the University of Kansas. Another mascot named Centennial Jay was temporarily used in 2012. Baby Jay was c ...

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.

History

The original mascot for the Kansas Jayhawks was a bulldog. In 1912, the Jayhawk was first seen in a cartoon by Henry Maloy in The University Daily Kansan. In November 1958, the Jayhawk became the official mascot for Kansas University. The "Jayhawk" idea came from the combination of a blue jay and a sparrow hawk.

References

Big 12 Conference mascots Kansas Jayhawks Basketball mascots Bird mascots Fictional birds Anthropomorphic birds Mascots introduced in 1958 {{Mascot-stub

History

See also

References