Name-a-Day Calendar, November 13: Albany Great Danes
Day 7 of 365
Chosen in: 1965
Chosen by: Student Kathy Earle in a pick-the-mascot contest
What is now the State University of New York at Albany was originally founded as a teachers college, and when they started their varsity athletics programs in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, they branded themselves as such. They called themselves the Pedagogues1 and student Paul Kirsch designed a penguin mascot that he named Pierre the Pedguin.
After the teachers college expanded to a multidisciplinary university in the early ‘60s, school brass figured they should update their identity. In 1965, they held a contest to pick the new mascot, wherein student Kathy Earle submitted the Great Dane because “it has a proud bearing and imposing stature. It is clean, graceful, and proud.” It won the contest and she was awarded a $25 savings bond for the winning entry.2
Learn more about the history of Albany’s mascots here.
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“Peds” for short
$235.56 in 2022 dollars