Frederick "Freddie" Falcon is the official

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 ...

of the NFL's

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

, having represented the team since at least 1984.

History

Background

During the 1966 season, the Falcons were represented by Thor, a live

falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distrib ...

who would perform pre-game and halftime flying manoeuvres for the crowd. After Thor went missing, trainer Mike Cady replaced him with two male falcons called Mercury (who also went missing) and Yak Yak. By November 1971, the team had stopped using live falcons as mascots. In the 1973 season, the team were represented by a football-shaped mascot named "Rah Rah".

Freddie Falcon

By October 1984, the team was represented by Freddie Falcon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Freddie Atlanta Falcons Bird mascots Anthropomorphic birds NFL mascots Fictional falcons Mascots introduced in 1972 Male characters in advertising