Baby Jay is one of the costume

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

s of the Kansas Jayhawks. Together,

Big Jay Big Jay is a mountain in the northern Green Mountains of Vermont, located on the border of Franklin County, Vermont, Franklin and Orleans County, Vermont, Orleans counties. The summit of Big Jay is the highest point of Franklin County. Big Ja ...

and Baby Jay are Jayhawks and are the mascots used by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. Another mascot named Centennial Jay was temporarily used in 2012. Baby Jay was created by student Amy Sue Hurst and "hatched" at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

of KU's

Homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

victory in football over Kansas State University on October 9, 1971, and has served as a mascot ever since.

History

In 1970 Amy Hurst saw a Jayhawk bumper sticker depicting Big Jay and

hatchling In oviparous biology, a hatchling is a newly hatched fish, amphibian, reptile, or bird. A group of mammals called monotremes lay eggs, and their young are hatchlings as well. Fish Fish hatchlings generally do not receive parental care, similar to ...

s, which inspired her to create a new mascot. After talking to a co-worker who was a Big Jay and getting approval from the KU Alumni Association she created Baby Jay. The official debut of Baby Jay was October 9, 1971 during the half-time of KU's homecoming game against in-state rivals Kansas State University. In front of 55,000 fans Big Jay hauled a large egg to the 50-yard line of Memorial Stadium. A few moments later Baby Jay "hatched" from the artificial egg and has served as an ambassador of KU at events across the country ever since. The original costume weighed 30 pounds, consisted of

chicken wire Chicken wire, or poultry netting, is a mesh of wire commonly used to fence in fowl, such as chickens, in a run or coop. It is made of thin, flexible, galvanized steel wire with hexagonal gaps. Available in 1 inch (about 2.5 cm) diameter, ...

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, and felt. The total cost was $53. In 2003, Amy Hurst, the original Baby Jay, started a fund to help cover the cost of the now $5,000 costume that is replaced every two years.

Selection process

The selection process to become Baby Jay is generally during the spring semester. Baby jay is typically a female student and must be between 4' 11" and 5' 1" tall. The auditioning process may also include 20 minutes of running, performing an entrance and exit routine, emotion and reaction exercises.

Duties

The primary duty of Baby Jay is to be an ambassador of KU, roaming the sidelines at football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

games giving hugs to youngsters. Baby Jay, being smaller than Big Jay, is often involved in entertaining children. Baby Jay is also present at most major university events such as athletic competitions, Tradition Night, Band Spectacular, and graduation. Baby Jay is also seen in the community attending weddings, opening the

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film '' Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films prod ...

film festival, or even

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legislators to fund higher education. In return for these services Baby Jay receives a $300 scholarship per semester.

History

Selection process

Duties

See also

References

Further reading