Review: Sparky Fashion Faux Pas

I love Sparky, but I hate his fashion sense.

I understand the flaming bell bottoms, goatee and jersey, but I can’t understand why he wears white tennis shoes and catching gloves. I have no idea what a “real” Sun Devil has over his hands or feet, but Sparky could at least play to my imagination. Maybe he could wear flaming gauntlets and some Hermes-style flying shoes? The Oregon Duck has webbed feet and the USC Trojan wears leather battles sandals, so why do I have to stare at Sparky’s Nikes every Saturday night?

In a quest to find my answer, I pulled a Hermione and went to the library. According to the ASU authored History of Sparky – Timeline in the University Archives, Sparky first appeared somewhere between 1940 and 1945 at school bonfires. Sparky was more of a fun-loving entity than an official mascot, and the time line claimed the “early trident model might have been a plunger.” As student body grew tired of the old mascot, the Bulldog, they tossed around names such as the Devil Dogs and Dust Devils until finally deciding on the Sun Devils in 1946.

The official mascot became Sparky. But what exactly is he? According to the History of Sparky – Timeline, after receiving criticisms about Sparky possibly having ties to Satan the Alumni defended him claiming “he is characterized as an imp who vexes the competition.”

Dick Jacobs is generally accepted to be the first official Sparky. He was a gymnastics superstar. Photograph collections in the University Archives show Jacobs performing handstands on the field-goal posts and doing back handsprings on the field. He originally appeared in standard gymnast garb, sometimes wearing a football jersey but mainly sticking to leotards. Eventually a costume was born which looked more like something thrown together in an Olympic figure skating dressing room than an actual outfit. At that time Sparky had no gloves but did wear shoes. Since the first Sparky, neither glove nor shoe ever looked right with the outfit.

Because of all the rigorous gymnastics performed by the Jacobs Sparky, the shoe and glove portions of the costume were born out of functionality rather than style. The original Sparky changed his appearance as need be, sometimes skipping the gloves and going bare handed. Jacobs is often shown wearing gymnast shoes and bearing hands white with chalk.

Progressions of subsequent mascots show a continuation of the shoes and gloves. Jacob’s gloves meant for gripping the field goal posts eventually became football gloves. The thin shoes meant to cushion back handsprings eventually became white trainers.

Today’s Sparky no longer performs the intense gymnastics Jacobs did at games, but the gloves and shoes remain. Although they look terrible, they serve as a reminder of Sparky’s history. They are like my pair of lucky underpants or the shirt I wore when I got my first kiss. Sometimes the tradition and history behind a piece of clothing means more than how good it looks. So go ahead, imp, wear the gloves and shoes.

Contact the reporter at sbauge@asu.edu