Name-a-Day Calendar, October 7: UTSA Roadrunners
Page 335 of 365
Chosen in: 1977 (officialized in 1978 and began play in 1981)
Chosen by: A “redo” student body vote
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) was established in 1969 and quickly grew into a large, formidable institution. Their athletics department didn’t take off until 1981, but before then, in 1977, the university tasked the student government with holding a contest to select a school mascot.
In September 1977, the student government solicited suggestions and narrowed them down to nine semifinalists: the armadillo, el conquistador, the eagle, the jaguar, the puma, the roadrunner, the star, el toro, and el vaquero. The student government then polled the students on these options with the intent of whittling them down to two finalists. Those finalists, the armadillo and the star, were announced in November.
Under normal circumstances, this would lead to a vote between those two finalists, but before that vote could take place, the student government took a closer look at the ballots and noticed something was up. They didn’t specify what, exactly, but it was enough to discard the entire round of voting and re-run it with more stringent oversight.
The redo vote saw the armadillo reclaim its place among the finalists, but the star was booted in favor of the roadrunner. The next month, December 1977, another vote occurred between those two finalists and the roadrunner came out on top. The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved this selection in February 1978.
When UTSA began playing sports in fall 1981, their teams were known as the Roadrunners. Their mascot is a costumed roadrunner named Rowdy.
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