Hilton Magic — After the Cyclones beat No. 3 Missouri on Feb. 14, 1989, a sportswriter for the Des Moines Register, Buck Turnbull, headlined an article, “Hilton Magic Spells ‘Upset’ One More Time.” The moniker “Hilton Magic” would take off from there.

When former Cyclone Fred Hoiberg returned to Iowa State to coach in April 2010, he called for the return of the “magic” of previous years. As the Cyclones knocked off two top-10 teams at Hilton during the 2011-12 season, Hoiberg saw that hope come to life.

“I definitely saw the return of Hilton Magic this past season,” Hoiberg said in an earlier interview the Daily. “Our fans were a huge part of the success we had. The Kansas and Baylor games were special seeing the fans rush the court.”

Cy — Since Sept. 28, 1895, Iowa State has been the Cyclones. After the ISU football team scored 36 unanswered points against Northwestern University, a sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune wrote:

“Struck by a Cyclone … Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa cyclone as with the Iowa team it met yesterday. At the end of 50 minute’s play the big husky farmers from Iowa’s Agricultural College had rolled up 36 points, while 15 yard line was the nearest Northwestern got to Iowa’s goal.”

In October 1954, the mascot Cy was unveiled as a cardinal, in reference to the school’s colors of cardinal and gold.