Cheers

Game Day Cheers
Cyclone-Power... Cyclone-Power
Opposite sides alternate shouting

Cyclones Aerobic Cheer
Performed by the fans with the band. Lean forward, lean right, lean back, lean left, and yell the letters “I-S-U” each time you lean backwards.
I-S-U... whatcha gonna do? (I-S-U)
I-S-U... whatcha gonna do? (I-S-U)

Cardinal-Gold... Cardinal-Gold
Opposite sides alternate cheering

Let’s Go State... Let’s Go State
Fans cheers in unison

Traditions

Story of the Cyclones
During the fall of 1895, a football team from the small Agricultural College (now Iowa State) began to get noticed.  On September 28th, the Ames team traveled to face a highly regarded Northwestern University team in Evanston, Illinois.  The home team expected a big win, but was in for a big shock.  Iowa State upset Northwestern 36-0.  The final outcome was so decisive that the Chicago Tribune headline proclaimed “Iowa Cyclone Devastates Northwestern,” stating that “Northwestern might as well have tried to play football with an Iowa tornado as with the Iowa team it met yesterday.”  The nickname stuck and the Iowa State team had made a name for itself, literally!

Background of the Bird 
In 1954, a group of students, brainstorming on how to build more school spirit, approached Collegiate Manufacturing in Ames on creating a school mascot.  Since the consensus was that you “couldn’t stuff a Cyclone,” a bird figure using the school colors (cardinal and gold) was the eventual choice.  The Pep Council got a green light from ISU and the cardinal-like bird was introduced at the 1954 homecoming pep rally.  A contest was held to determine the cardinal’s name, and the entry “Cy,” short for Cyclones, won.  Cy has been a proud mascot and symbol of Iowa State ever since!

Cardinal and Gold 
In 1891, a committee chose gold, silver, and black as Iowa State College colors. In 1899, the Athletic Council wanted to provide sweaters to student-athletes, however they found it was too difficult to dye the sweaters in those colors. President Knapp also had problems tying the diplomas with three ribbons. The student population was ready for a change—in October of 1899, the Athletic Council voted to change the colors to cardinal and gold.

Hilton History 
Beautiful James H. Hilton Coliseum is part of the Iowa State Center, first conceived by former ISU president Dr. James H. Hilton in 1954.  The basic plan for a new arena had been completed in 1956 and final construction was completed in 1971.  Iowa State’s first basketball game in Hilton Coliseum was against Arizona on Dec. 2, 1971.  “Hilton Magic” was born!  When more than 14,000 loyal, screaming fans invade Hilton, there’s no place quite like it in college basketball.  According to the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer, Iowa State owns the best home court advantage in the nation.  Hilton is also the home of Cyclone volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastics as well as commencements, concerts, assemblies, and conventions.  Hilton Coliseum has swelled to a record basketball crowd of 15,000 who saw the Cyclones post a 97-94 win over Iowa in 1971.  ISU and Iowa also set a national attendance record for a dual wrestling meet before a crowd of 14,057 in 1982.  As you can see, when it comes to Hilton Coliseum, there’s really “no place like home.”

Jack Trice Trivia 
The Iowa State University football field was officially named in honor of Jack Trice in December 1983, being the Jack Trice Field and Cyclone Stadium.  Trice was Iowa State’s first black athlete who died from injuries received in a varsity football game in October 1923.  But it was former ISU Director of Athletics Lou McCullough who was instrumental in the original construction of the stadium in 1973.  Completed in less than two years, the stadium hosted its first game on September 20, 1975, a Cyclone victory over Air Force.  In 1976, end zone bleachers were constructed to increase capacity from 42,500 to more than 48,000.  Standing room tickets brought capacity to more than 50,000 in the 1980’s.  An all-time record crowd of 54,475 watched the ISU vs. Nebraska game on Oct. 27, 1990.  The complex was again transformed in 1995-96 with the construction of the state-of-the-art Richard O. Jacobson Athletic Building.  Finally, a natural grass field was installed in the summer of 2000 after 20 years of artificial surfaces.  Today, Jack Trice Stadium is one of the finest football facilities in the Big 12 Conference.  In 1999, the stadium was officially changed to Jack Trice Stadium.

Excited about Cy
The story of Cy the Cardinal goes back to the early 1950s when an Iowa State mascot was only a glint in the eye of Chev Adams, president of the former Collegiate Manufacturing Company of Ames, and Harry Burrell, Iowa State sports information director. The two struggled to think of a way to make a mascot costume that would remotely resemble a column of wind.

To solve the problem, two contests were held: the first, a student-run challenge to decide once and for all what form the new mascot would take; the other, a nationwide contest to find a fitting name for the character. The consensus among the students – led by Pep Council president Chuck Duncan – confirmed that you "couldn’t stuff a Cyclone," so they settled on a cardinal bird based on the school colors, cardinal and gold, and on existing organizations, Cardinal Key and Cardinal Guild.

Collegiate Manufacturing designed the first cardinal costume – after receiving a green light from Alumni Association director W.E. "Red" Barron and Cyclone Club director Ray Donels – at a cost of $200.

Seventeen people submitted the name "Cy" in the nationwide contest. The first to submit the name was Mrs. Ed Ohlsen of Ames. "Cy the Cardinal" (his official name) debuted at the 1954 Homecoming game and has become the enduring symbol of Iowa State athletics.

Virgil Petty (’57 farm op, DVM ’64) was chosen out of pity by the athletic club to be the inaugural Cy after just being cut from the varsity basketball team. He tried out the costume – made mostly from chicken wire and aluminum – at Brown’s Sporting Goods several times before the big game. Petty needed the practice – the overwhelming 8 1/2-foot height and bulging chest of the bird costume made maneuvering cumbersome at best.

That first year, Petty says, students from rival schools kept intercepting the costume before games (it was so large it had to be packed and shipped by train to away games) and holding it for ransom.

Over the last half century, Cy has undergone several makeovers, redesigns, and life changes. He was reportedly "plucked to death" during the 1961 migration to Missouri, and it took almost a year to replace him.

In 1972, on the way to the Liberty Bowl, the vehicle carrying the Cy costume was in an accident near St. Louis. The costume was bent, mangled, covered with oil, and splattered with battery acid but eventually made its way to Memphis, where a costumer and cleaning establishment worked tirelessly to repair the mascot. Cy made it to the game just in time.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a miniature "Baby Cy" made appearances at many athletics events. Several years afer the smaller "Cy" was discontinued, "Clone" debuted at Hilton Coliseum in January of 1989. The more agile mascot complemented the traditional Cy for several years.

Cy’s most recent transformation occurred in 1995. Cy and Clone were merged. Today’s reincarnation has a menacing attitude not seen on the cartoon-like prototype that Petty wore 50 years ago. It comes with a bigger price tag, too. Iowa State currently has three different size costumes, each one costing several thousand dollars.

In the early days, usually only one student portrayed Cy during the school year, his or her name kept secret from students and fans. But with his ever-growing commitments and responsibilities, Cy now commands four to six students year round, with no effort made to hide their identities. Cy is in the public eye more than 200 days out of the year, a job too big for just one student. That is why each spring, as the semester winds to a close, flyers start popping up on campus announcing upcoming Cy tryouts. A panel of judges, made up of spirit squad members and other students, select the most animated candidates to form the next year’s mascot squad.

Making the team is a privilege that comes without glory. The mascot squad gets no pay, no scholarship money, and no official recognition. A member has to be willing to put in countless hours in the bulky suit, travel all over the country for games, and work during the summer as well as the school year.

Everyone loves Cy. If he’s not at an Iowa State game, he’s at a parade, a community event, a wedding, a private party. There is something about him that brings people together from all backgrounds, young and old, rich and poor. People are drawn to him and what he represents. That something? That something is called being a Cyclone.