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"Let's Call Them Sun Devils"
It was the summer of 1946 when someone uttered those words for the first time. But who? That's
a question that has haunted Arizona State University historians for years. The nickname "Sun Devils" is the third
in the school's 108-year history. When the second Tempe Normal football team opened play in 1889, the student body
chose "Owls" for its moniker. And when Tempe Normal became Arizona State Teachers College, "Owls" became "Bulldogs."
The State Press, the student newspaper, ran frequent appeals during the fall of 1946, urging the Bulldog to be replaced
by the new Sun Devil. And on November 8, 1946, the student body voted 819 to 196 to make the change. On November 20,
says The Arizona Republic, the student council made it official. The following day, the first Arizona State team
played as the Sun Devils.
The basketball team, coached by Rudy Lavik and manned by Ed Long, Ralph Bassett, Bob Chastain, Carl Heath and Barry
Arney, defeated the Mesa Jaycees, 42-38, at the Mesa High School gymnasium and launched the Sun Devil in victory.
The problem of drawing the Sun Devil was handed over to the late Bert Anthony, an artist for Walt Disney. Anthony, creator
of the defunct Stanford Indian symbol, designed the current Sun Devil imp, "Sparky."
The Lantern Walk
The Lantern Walk is one of ASU's oldest and most
prominent traditions. It was started in 1917 as the symbolic passing of the torch from the senior
class to the junior class. It has come to represent the coming together of students and alumni,
the Sun Devils of today and those of the past. One night each fall, during Homecoming Week,
students and alumni march “A” Mountain bearing candles to light the way. Once atop the butte,
the school's fight song is performed and participants light the “A” as a showing of school pride
and to symbolize the historic tradition that continues at ASU.
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