It lives on our sweatshirts, it graces ESPN commercials, it entertains children — not to mention college students. It has even made it to our underwear.

It’s the Kansas Jayhawk.

Some native Kansans grew up knowing and loving the Jayhawk and having pictures taken with the mythical

mascot. Even those who are new to the University come to appreciate the Jayhawk after just a year on the KU campus. The Jayhawk has been mocked by rival universities for the simple fact that it has never actually existed. But students at the University of Kansas know better.

The Jayhawk stands for something more, it symbolizes the spirit of the University of Kansas. Even the school song expresses the importance of the Jayhawk to every student at the University. “I’m a Jayhawk” encapsulates the spirit of the Jayhawk. The Jayhawk traces its roots to the Civil War, just like the rivalry with Mizzou, as it was the name of free-state soldiers. These Jayhawkers objected to Kansas becoming a slave state and raided neighboring state Missouri to protest their slavery.

The Jayhawk is only one of many traditions, myths, and superstitions that exist on Mount Oread. Explore the richness and tradition of the University of Kansas.

Birth of Jayhawk songs: Sing them loud, sing them often

College students and faculty used to make up school songs — and sing them. Many have faded away, but two struck a responsive chord and still are sung enthusiastically.

In 1891, professor George Barlow Penny searched for a school song for the Glee and Mandolin Club to sing on a tour. Just before departure, he thought of Cornell’s “Far Above Cayuga’s Waters.” Changing a few words, Penny taught it to the glee club. The campus has been singing “Crimson and the Blue” ever since.

George “Dumpy” Bowles, class of 1912, longed to make a contribution to KU spirit. He wasn’t football-sized, but he could write music. One of his musical shows had a song called “I’m a Jayhawk.” Written in 1912, it became a hit with students in 1920. The 1926 glee club performed it nationally.

Chant enjoys illustrious career

The University Science Club officially adopted the famous “Rock Chalk” chant in 1886. A chemistry professor, E.H.S. Bailey, and some of his associates were returning from a conference by train to Lawrence.

As they traveled, they talked of the need for a good, rousing yell.

The click-clack of the train wheels passing over the rail joints suggested a rhythm and a cadence to them.

At first, their version was “Rah, Rah, Jayhawk, KU” repeated three times. Later, in place of the “rahs,” an English professor suggested “Rock Chalk,” a transposition of chalk rock, the name for the limestone outcropping found on Mount Oread, site of the Lawrence campus.

The cheer became known worldwide. President Teddy Roosevelt said it was the greatest college chant he’d ever heard. Kansas troops used it while fighting in the Philippines in 1899, in the Boxer Rebellion in China and in World War II.

At the Olympic games in 1920, the King of Belgium asked for a typical American college yell.

The assembled athletes agreed on Rock Chalk and rendered it for His Majesty.

Jayhawks haven’t always bled crimson and blue

The University’s colors have been crimson and blue since the early 1890s. Originally, the Kansas Board of Regents decided to adopt the University of Michigan’s colors: maize and sky blue.

Maize and blue were shown at oratorical meets, and they may have colored the Kansas crew in rowing competitions in the mid-1880s. But in 1890, when football arrived on campus, a clamor arose for Harvard’s crimson to honor Col. John J. McCook, a Harvard man who had given money for the KU athletic field.

Faculty members who had graduated from Yale insisted that their academic lineage and Yale blue not be overlooked.

In 1896, the University officially adopted crimson and blue.

Jayhawk: From passion to pride

The University of Kansas Jayhawk is a mythical bird with a fascinating history. The term “Jayhawk” was probably coined about 1848. The name combines two birds — the blue jay, a noisy, quarrelsome bird known to rob other nests, and the sparrow hawk, a stealthy hunter. The message here: Don’t turn your back on this bird.

During the 1850s, the Kansas Territory was filled with such Jayhawks. The name stuck especially in Lawrence, where the University would come to exist.

During the Civil War, the Jayhawk’s ruffian image gave way to patriotic symbol. Kansas Governor Charles Robinson raised a regiment called the Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawks. By war’s end, Jayhawks were synonymous with the impassioned people who made Kansas a free state. In 1886, the bird appeared in a cheer — the famous Rock Chalk chant. When KU football players first took the field in 1890, it seemed only natural to call them Jayhawkers.

It is Harold D. Sandy’s 1946 design of a smiling Jayhawk that survives. The design was copyrighted in 1947.

In the 1960s, the Jayhawk went 3-D when the University of Kansas Alumni Association provided a mascot costume. In 1971, during Homecoming halftime, a huge egg was hauled out to the 50-yard line, and fans witnessed the hatch of Jay’s companion — “Baby Jay.”