Go Jayhawks! (April Issue)

 

Go Jayhawks! [April Issue]

Last week I got word from my dad that KU won the 2022 National Championship, and I was happy for the Jayhawks to win. You know, I wish that I could go see the Jayhawks game once again in Lawrence.

It's like that time my buddies Ingrid and Ashley took me to the football game as a Best Buddies event. Heck, I even got a high five from Big Jay.

Anyways, the Jayhawks are one of my top 5 college teams of all time. And that's why I dig KU. I even like to visit the Kansas Union anytime.

Now I have some fresh ideas for the next mural in Lawrence. I've made a collage example of an upcoming mural idea piece titled ’Rock Chalkin’ With CJ’ (a.k.a. Rock Chalk Madness) and this new mural idea will be made outside at KU or somewhere in downtown Lawrence. I posted that idea for the next mural on Van Go's page on Facebook. This is what the mural will look like.

Now in the middle of April, I would meet up with my Cordley teacher Lois Orth-Lopes and get together for lunch. One time, I met with Lois and Sebastian for some lunch at The Mad Greek last year. That was when my family and I were visiting Lawrence that Thanksgiving. I just wish I could meet up with Lois again for lunch sometime when I come back again. And maybe we can both check out Logie's on Mass. They have the framed pictures of famous people on the walls, and there's food.

Anyway, back to my top subject. The Jayhawks. I've been a fan of the KU Jayhawks ever since I lived in Lawrence two decades ago. Speaking of the Jayhawks, there was also the time I went to the Kansas Union during my visit there on vacation. Back in the day while I was in Haworth Hall and Stewart Children's Center when recess was over, The "Big" Tooter would sound when we go back inside for more stuff to learn. That sound was really loud. In case in didn't know, the tooter blew up some steam and sounded like a train's whistle. Duh!

History of the tooter is shown. It says here that for over 100 years, one of the most recognizable sounds on campus has been the hourly blowing of the power plant steam whistle, an earsplitting claxon that is as much a KU tradition as the Rock Chalk chant. First sounding in 1912, the whistle from the very beginning was an object of much dissention. Students charged that professors ignored it, and professors complained that students used it as an excuse to rudely dash out of the classroom. Some things never change.

KU Chancellor Frank Strong nicknamed the “Big Tooter,” the whistle began marking the end of each hour’s classes on March 25, 1912, at 9:50 a.m.  He once said that “If the instructor isn’t through when the whistle blows, “get up and go.”

Okay, so one time that summer I went to the Union with Stephanie Harsin to catch with the Lawrence Reading Program from the public library and we read 'Where The Sidewalk Ends' by Shel Silverstein.

I read plenty of poems together with her and we even got to play around with some Mad Libs and write down our own. It was a great day reading together. I've read so many stories that summer since the last time I read a Dr. Seuss book.

Okay now back to the topic. As a Jayhawk fan, I learned so much about KU's official mascot bird Big Jay. He's one of the greatest college team mascots of all time. And sometimes when it comes to watching the Jayhawks in TV and in person during big games, you gotta give him a high five. That would be my first motto one that for now. Anyway, I really dig Big Jay and Little Jay as the mascots of the Jayhawk teams because of the Rock Chalk chant I like listening to on the radio and TV.

According to the University Daily Kansan website, it says here that every student who has passed through the University of Kansas has had the fortune of being called a Jayhawk. While there are several wildcats, plenty of tigers and a few bears, there is only one major university that takes the form of a Jayhawk.

In University history, the Jayhawk first made its way into the college word bank in 1886 when chemistry professor E.H.S. Bailey used “Rah Rah, Jay Hawk,” as the cheer for the Science Club. This chant eventually became what we know today as “Rock Chalk Jayhawk.”

In 1890, the football team became known as the Jayhawks, and in 1901, the yearbook became the Jayhawker.

“It was a very slow process of getting to where we are now,” Union Traditions Administrator Tim Gaddie said. “We went through a few little mascots for certain elements of the University, and the Jayhawk eventually just stuck.”

The earliest published drawing of a Jayhawk appeared in 1908, which Gaddie describes as looking more like a phoenix than a normal bird. The bird continued to appear in local newspapers around the Kansas City area and Lawrence until 1912 when Henry Maloy, an illustrator for the Jayhawker, designed the first official mascot, which many now refer to as the “sexy legs” Jayhawk.

Despite still not officially being the one and only mascot for the University, with some of the others being a pet bulldog and at one time a pig representing the football team, the Jayhawk slowly gained popularity.

Recent history shows that Charles Jennison, a strong supporter of abolitionists John Brown and James Montgomery, came to Kansas in 1857. In 1861 he was commissioned as a lieutenant colonel of the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, which became known as "Jennison's Jayhawkers."

By 1920, the Jayhawk had eclipsed all other mascots and essentially became the official mascot with a redesign that made it look more like a sparrow or other real bird. Again in 1923, it was redesigned, but brought back to its more cartoony roots similar to the 1912 Jayhawk with sneakers and a firmly established red, blue and yellow palette. After slight tweaks to the design in 1929, 1941 and 1946, the current Jayhawk we know and love came to be.

For those of you who would like to know, "Rock Chalk, Jayhawk" (a.k.a. the "Rock Chalk" chant) is a chant used at University of Kansas Jayhawks sporting events. The chant is made up of the phrase "Rock chalk, Jayhawk, KU".  The best thing about the chant is that it's also used as a flavor for ice cream.

This is what the mascot design of the Jayhawk looks like in its timeline.

The first design was from 1912. The second was from 1920, then 1923, then 1929, 1941, 1946, and finally 2006-present.

See what I mean.

So now you know the history of the Jayhawks in Kansas. The next time I wanna see the Jayhawks play in basketball, baseball, or in football, all I gotta hear is the Rock Chalk Chant. The reason I like watching the Jayhawk play is that I really enjoy watching it in games and on TV. And to top that off, I think I would like to plan on seeing the Jayhawks play again someday. And now, well...here you go.

"Rock chalk... Jay-Hawk... KU, Rock chalk... Jay-Hawk... KU

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk, KU!