Syracuse Mascot
9/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Mascot
In 1951, the Senior Class commissioned a statue of the Saltine Warrior to be placed near the discovery site. The students of the famous Croatian sculptor and SU faculty member, Ivan Mestrovic, competed for the honor. The winner was Louise Kaisch who arranged for a member of the Onondaga Nation to pose for her statue. The Saltine Warrior, cast in bronze, was moved several times, at last finding a resting place on the south-east corner of the quadrangle, next to the Shaffer Art Building.
In the mid-1950's, the father of a Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brother owned a cheerleading camp. He made a Saltine Warrior costume for his son to wear at SU football games. Thus began a nearly forty-year tradition of Lambda Chi brothers serving as SU's mascot. In 1990 however the University opened up the mascot traditions to the entire student body (Daily Orange, February 22, 1990).
In 1978, the members of a Native American student organization headed a protest against using the Saltine Warrior as an athletic mascot. Onondagan Chief Oren Lyons, a 1958 alumnus and former SU lacrosse star, explained that it's all in the presentation...The thing that offended me when I was there was that guy running around like a nut. That's derogatory (Daily Orange, March 23, 1976,p.5). The Saltine Warrior was subsequently sidelined and a contest for successor ensued (Daily Orange, February 12, 1978).
Briefly in 1978 a Roman-style gladiator reigned over the sites of sports battles, but he was soon both laughed and booed off the fields. It was prophetic of his career that in his initial appearance the SU football team lost, 28-0, in a contest against the Florida State Seminoles.
In the following years proposals and attempts at mascots included Egnaro the Troll, a Superman-like figure, and a man in an orange tuxedo. An Orange with appeal was introduced in ca. 1980 (Daily Orange, April 4, 1980).
By 1984, the search for a proper successor to the Warrior had become both widely known and somewhat desperate. Sports Illustrated described a parade of potential replacements for the beloved and fearsome Saltine mascot: the Dome Ranger (an insurance agent in an orange cowboy outfit and blue mask), Dome Eddie (a gnat-like figure in Orange sweats with Elton John glasses and an incandescent wig), Beast from the East (an electric-green monster), and The Orange (a juiced-up, bumbling citrus fruit from which two legs protrude. It's known on campus as the official embarrassment.') Other ideas proposed at the time, presumably in jest: a home grown carrot or pumpkin, or a Pilgrim shot full of arrows.
The issue of an official mascot came to a head in February 1995 when Chancellor Shaw appointed an 18-member committee of students, faculty and staff to recommend a logo and mascot, primarily in support of the athletic program. In the Fall the Committee, which had narrowed the mascot possibilities to a wolf, lion or the unofficial Orange, recommended adopting a wolf as the University mascot. A successful campaign was organized by the students who act as the Orange, and in early December Chancellor Shaw named the Orange, popularly known as Otto, as the official Syracuse University mascot. Shaw stated that he was convinced that the majority opinion on and off campus favored the Orange, and that with the Orange the University retains a unique position in college athletics. (Daily Orange, Dec. 5, 1995)
The Orange has prevailed to this day, as SU fans know well. The warm and wooly interior of The Orange's costume is inhabited sequentially in any one year by from two to six students who audition for the honor of entertaining SU fans. Beloved especially by the under-six crowd, the friendly and cheerful Orange has performed well enough in recent years to lead the Orangemen to many successful seasons, and through national television to become a recognizable symbol of SU's sports prowess.
(Information about the SU mascot was found in the University Archives.)
