DU's Mascots & Logos Over The Years

(photo) Click on photo to enlarge

The University of Denver's mascots and logos have changed significantly over the years. From Pioneer Pete to Boone to Ruckus to nothing. Are we Pioneers or DU? Birds or people - travel by wagon or fly with feathers?

17 comments:

puck swami said...

Amazing how the current DU interlock is similar to the 1935 DU interlock - 75 years apart!

Also, I like how we're heading in the direction of clean, collegiate simplicity with the "Arched Denver" as well as the interlocking DU. Simple works. Collegiate works. Bird's don't work for Pioneers.

Our hockey uniforms have returned to the simplicity of the 1940s, 50s and 60s DU uniforms, and the new Boone's return also evokes not only the old Boone, but a little bit of Pioneer Pete as well.

Graphically and mascot wise, we are in the best place we've been in a long time.

Anonymous said...

I like the covered wagon.

dggoddard said...

Thanks to the LetsGoDU reader whio put this together.

It would make an awesome T-shirt

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that would be a great t-shirt!

Anonymous said...

Can the school do a throwback/3rd Jersey? Do they do that in college sports like the pros? That would be great for the team to wear for the Denver Classic tourney each year and perhaps the CC games. Like come out with a different design & crest each year and make them available for purchase as well. I think they'd sell alot of them, especially if they used some of these old logos.

Anonymous said...

Or, atleast use them for 1 series... then auction them off for charity????

dggoddard said...

I'll pass the 3rd jersey suggestion on to the Spence Walden and the DU Hockey Alumni Committee. They discussed something similar to this last weekend in Minnesota.

Seems to me they could use the raffle money to buy the 3rd jerseys for the team to wear, then remove the players names (per NCAA rules) and then sell the jerseys for twice what they cost to buy originally.

Anonymous said...

I was dressed as Boone at the 2005 Founders Day Gala and at some events throughout campus? Who am I?

Anonymous said...

Why do they have to remove the nameplate? That's dumb. I was at a Thrashers game once, and they were doing a promotion called "the shirt off my back". At the end of the game, all the players lined up. Before the end of the game, they drew fans' seat locations out of a bucket. Each fan came down and named which player they wanted thier jersey from. The players took off thier jerseys right then and there and then handed them to each fan who got drawn. It was pretty neat to see Ilya Kovelchuk and Dany Heatley take off thier sweatty, game used jersey and hand it to a lucky fan LOL

dggoddard said...

My guess is that the NCAA rule exists so that the players can't sue the schools for residuals. If the University of Florida sold 50,000 Tim Tebow jerseys, they'd probably have to pay him some money.

But if Florida sells 50,000 #15 jerseys they can claim it was any past player.

Fans who buy game worn college jerseys are free to get nameplates sewn on themselves after they purchase the jerseys.

Anonymous said...

galucki is that you?

Anonymous said...

The coolest thing about all this is Pioneer Pete is playing football in that drawing. Just a cool perspective on how much DU has changed in the last 50 or so years.

ronmexico said...

I like the one that looks like the guy that stands outside of the chicken wing place.

old pio said...

We are in a good place these days as we eliminate the bird. But I still saw him on the wall in the interview area at Magness a couple of weeks ago. And the slide FRM uses in their pregame tape shows the bird on the carpeting in the Pioneer locker room. I know, I know, carpeting is expensive. But if it's still there, it's gotta go.

Anonymous said...

That bird/jelly donut logo is so bad....I can't believe DU actually used that for a while

ScottA said...

This would indeed make a great shirt... minus the jelly donut bird.

Anonymous said...

The jelly donut is being phased out since 2006? I found this page because 9news is using that logo now. I'm relatively new to the area, and couldn't figure out why the pioneers had a bird logo. Nice logo chart!