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Iowa State’s mascot was named for an old-fashioned drubbing delivered to the Northwestern Wildcats by ISU.

In the fall of 1895, an underdog Iowa State Agricultural College football team matched up with Northwestern University and handed the Wildcats a 35-0 defeat. The next morning, the sports page of the Chicago Tribune carried the following headline: “Evanston Hit by Iowa Cyclone.” A sentence in the article referred to the ISU team as a “cyclone out of the west.”

The cyclone stuck as the school’s mascot.

It was not until the early 1950s that the university decided to buy a stuffed mascot to represent ISU at sporting events.

Harry Burrell, ISU sports information director from 1941-78, said the Collegiate Manufacturing Company of Ames, one of the largest manufacturers of stuffed animals in the nation, came up with the idea of constructing a mascot costume for ISU.

“It wasn’t a question whether Iowa State needed a mascot; they wanted to make a mascot for us,” Burrell said. “They kept complaining to me, saying ‘Let’s get something together so we can make you a mascot.'”

Collegiate Manufacturing President Chev Adams tried to coax ISU to have the school’s nickname changed because he said the company “cannot make a stuffed Cyclone,” according to the ISU Athletic Department Web site.

Members of the ISU Pep Council decided the university needed a symbol to express its spirit and chose a cardinal from the school’s colors — cardinal and gold.

Adams’ antagonism finally paid off, Burrell said.

“The owner of the company kept on complaining to me, so it was suggested [by the Pep Council] that Cy be a bird because of the school color of cardinal,” Burrell said. “He told me he could make the form and they could make the mascot.”

Towering nearly 8 feet tall and clad in cardinal and gold, the original Cy costume cost $200. The mascot made his first appearance at the Homecoming football game in 1954.

The name “Cy” was suggested by Welma Ohlsen of Ames in a nationwide “Name-the-Bird” contest. Ohlsen was the first of 17 people to suggest the name.

Than Dohrn, assistant director of marketing for the Athletic Department, said Cy is one of ISU’s distinctive features.

“He is the symbol of the Athletic Department,” Dohrn said.