Stanford Cardinal

The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.

Nickname and mascot history

Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams. White was adopted as a secondary color in the 1940s.

In 1930, the athletic department adopted the mascot "Indian." The Indian symbol and name were later dropped by President Richard Lyman in 1972, after objections from Native American students and a vote by the student senate.

From 1972 to 1981, the official nickname was the Cardinals. Despite the plural form of the name, the name was intended to refer to the color, not the bird. During the 1970s, a number of suggestions were put forth as possible nicknames: Robber Barons (a sly reference to Leland Stanford's history), Sequoias, Trees, Railroaders, Spikes, Huns and Griffins. The last suggestion gained enough momentum to prompt the university to move two griffin statues to be near the athletic facilities.

On November 17, 1981, school President Donald Kennedy declared that the athletic teams be represented by the color Cardinal in its singular form.

Stanford has no official mascot, but the Stanford Tree, a member of the Stanford Band wearing a self-designed tree costume, appears at major...
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