Rowdy
Rowdy the Roadrunner
UniversityUniversity of Texas at San Antonio
ConferenceThe American
DescriptionAnthropomorphic roadrunner
Origin of nameStudent election
First seen1977

Rowdy (officially Rowdy the Roadrunner) is the mascot of the University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners.[1] He appears at athletic events, such as football and basketball games, and other university sponsored events. An anthropomorphic roadrunner, Rowdy is based upon the Greater Roadrunner.

History

The origin of Rowdy dates back to 1977, when the Student Representative Assembly (SRA, the forerunner to the modern Student Government Association) was openly debating the university's mascot.[2] An original vote, which favored "Armadillos" and "Stars" was declared null and void by the SRA, making way for a second campus-wide poll.[2] The second election was hotly contested between "Roadrunners" and "Armadillos"—with vigorous support on either side.[2] Supporters of "Roadrunner" made t-shirts depicting the cartoon road runner from Warner Bros.[3] After the final vote, the roadrunner was announced as the official mascot of UTSA at a bonfire celebration later that year.[2][4]

The older version of Rowdy.

On March 1, 2008, UTSA unveiled the new Rowdy and UTSA logos at the homecoming men's basketball game vs. Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. Many students and administrators at UTSA thought the previous Rowdy bore too much resemblance to the Kansas Jayhawk.[5]

In 2013 UTSA unveiled a statue of Rowdy.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ "Bird Watching: You've Come a Long Way, Rowdy". The University of Texas at San Antonio. Sombrilla. Spring 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Peters, Anne (December 19, 2008). "Go…Dillos?: How UTSA's Mascot Became the Roadrunner". The Top Shelf. UTSA Libraries Special Collections. Archived from the original on 2013-01-21.
  3. ↑ Pinkard, James (December 21, 2005). "UTSA Uncovered: Folklore". UTSA. The History of Rowdy. Archived from the original on 2005-12-30.
  4. ↑ "Roadrunner Days: UTSA Roadrunner Spirit". UTSA. August 18, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-08-23. The roadrunner, a bird representative of the Texas Hill Country and the Southwest, was voted the UTSA mascot in 1977.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ Stephens, Kyle (February 29, 2008). "UTSA Athletics unveils new logos, word marks". UTSA.
  6. ↑ "The Rowdy statue — a tradition yet to come". The Paisano. May 27, 2014.
  7. ↑ Davis, Vincent T. (September 27, 2013). "UTSA swift mascot statue took a while". mySA.
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