ASU's original Sparky the Sun Devil, Dick Jacobs, turns 90

Dick Jacobs, the first Sun Devil mascot, celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

Jacobs will celebrate his birthday on April 4.

As ASU's mascot, Jacobs was able to use his gymnastics skills and do what he loved.

"It was the danger of it all and making crowds all excited," said his wife, Joyce Jacobs. "He was always kind of a big showoff."

He performed a variety of stunts as the school's mascot, including tumbling, riding a bicycle backwards and doing handstands on top of the goal post.

"The most dangerous thing I did was diving on top of the goal post into the mattress that was held by four guys down below," said Jacobs to ASU. "The next thing I know, it was 2:00 in the morning and I was at this house party on top of Camelback Mountain. I had no idea how I even got there."

Jacobs performed as ASU's mascot from 1951 to 1953.

History of Sparky

According to ASU, Sparky was not the university's original mascot.

In 1889, when the school was known as Tempe Normal School, the student body chose "Owls" to be the mascot. The mascot then changed to the "Bulldogs" once the school became Arizona State Teachers College.

In 1946, the student body voted 819 to 196 to change the mascot to the Sun Devil.

Jacobs was the only student to attend the tryouts, according to his wife. He went down steps on his hands before tumbling and landing on the track.

"I got up and that was the end of the thing," Jacobs recalled to ASU. "You're it!"

Female students performed with Jacobs and were called the Sparkettes.

How Sparky got his look

A little Disney magic helped the school design the original look for the Sun Devil, ASU said. Bert Anthony, ASU alumnus and illustrator for Disney, came up with the design that included a pitchfork. The original Sparky wore a silk jumpsuit and had a long tail.

Rumors claim Anthony designed Sparky to look like Walt Disney, according to the university.

Over the years, Sparky's masks were made with different materials including fiberglass and soft foam.

The student body voted in 1971 to give Sparky an update. However, religious alumni did not like the new look, which featured prominent horns.

Alumni threatened to not support the university financially if it was "a school which adopts such a striking resemblance of Satan' for its emblem," The Republic reported.

Controversy continued over a proposed new look for Sparky in 2013, when the university tried to make the mascot "more cartoonish." The proposal sparked a Change.org petition and Facebook groups before the university decided to back down.

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