Aztecs Share School Spirit
Decades Ago at San Diego State: looking at school spirit from 'yelling themselves hoarse' to The Show.
In recognition of 鈥,鈥 the highly spirited and 鈥渞ollicking student section that many experts call the best of its kind,鈥 Decades Ago looks back on a long tradition of displays of school spirit at San Diego State.
Cheers from the sidelines and the crowd have always been a part of athletic competitions at San Diego State.
During the 1900-championship football season, President Samuel T. Black and other members of the faculty and student body 鈥溾 in a game against a team of sailors from the U.S.S. Iowa.
Yell leaders and kings
In the 1930s, well-orchestrated, precision card formations were a regular feature during football games. These card stunts creating huge shapes of the letters 鈥淪鈥 or 鈥淪D鈥 and other patterns were created by student spectator card sections in the stands directed by 鈥測ell leaders鈥 and 鈥測ell kings.鈥
Cheerleading and majorettes in glamorous dress were necessary when intercollegiate athletics became an important part of campus life in the 1920s, and this has been true ever since.
A noble mascot
1941 was reportedly the first appearance of 鈥淢onty Montezuma,鈥 the Aztec mascot whose likeness was taken from Donal Hord鈥檚 Montezuma sculpture. The 1941 show had Monty emerging from a teepee during the homecoming game in pursuit of Aztec maidens.
Monty remained a regular figure at athletic and other events throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and beginning in the 1980s, Monty鈥檚 costume and make-up reflected research into Aztec life and a distinct seriousness about the character鈥檚 importance for school spirit.
One incomparable chicken
Undoubtedly, however, the greatest 鈥渟how鈥 that ever emerged from San Diego State was a one-person comic extravaganza that began as a for San Diego鈥檚 KGB radio.
Known variously as the KGB Chicken, The San Diego Chicken, The Famous Chicken or just , 色情视频 student Ted Giannoulas was in the right place at the right time and, most importantly, was the right size for the chicken costume he tried on in 1974 when he agreed to the job. often in the Daily Aztec throughout the 1970s, sometimes promoting 鈥淗omegrown鈥 (a musical collection of local San Diego talent) and other times on campus to promote a 1975 rock concert. He and and other throughout the years.
鈥淭he Sir Lawrence Olivier of mascots鈥 and 鈥淐harles Chaplin in chicken feathers鈥 went on to achieve national and worldwide recognition to the extent that The Sporting News named him one of the top 100 most powerful people in sports of the 20th century.
鈥淭he Show鈥 certainly deserves the highest accolades as one of the top five student sections in the nation this year. This recognition is perhaps not too surprising since 鈥淭he Show鈥 comes out of a long San Diego State tradition of spirited and talented cheerleaders, 鈥測ell kings,鈥 a noble mascot and .