Everybody knows Cal State LA’s friendly feathered mascot, Eddie the Eagle, but there was once a time when he wasn’t always top of the pecking order. Recently, Cal State LA has been trying to embrace its devilish past by featuring retro merch adorned with the school’s original moniker of Los Angeles State College as well as its old mascot, the Diablo. Other recent attempts to embrace the mischievous boy in the devil costume include the Diablo Grill in the food court.
There’s a kind of edge to having the mascot be a devil. It certainly gets heads to turn. Even after some 78 years, there’s not a chance in hell we’d ever forget about the Diablo. The history of the Diablo is one filled with controversy, political conspiracy and indecisiveness so wild it could even rival Dante’s divine comedy.
When the college was founded in 1947, the mascot was the Diablos. The visage of the horned man with a mustache and trident was everywhere — the university sold merchandise like clothing, writing utensils and balloons. The University Gym was even once called the Diablo Den. The mascot was even slapped onto the gym floor, and the athletic teams sported devils on their jerseys.
Despite its prevalence, the Diablo didn’t have a harmonious relationship with the student body back then. One reason for criticism involved the religious connotations of having a devil as a school mascot, while other students and faculty felt that the mascot was not an accurate representation of the college’s identity. In a Jan. 27, 1981 article from the University Times by News Editor Patricia Lopez, students reported that the devilish characterization gave the impression that their teams “play against the rules or are unfair.”
There was, in fact, an attempt to change to a new mascot in 1958 through a vote, but the vote ultimately failed. Some ideas for a replacement mascot were mice, rats or mongooses. Dissent was still extremely vocal from ‘57 onward until a new vote was held in January of 1981 that finally exorcised Cal State LA of its “devil problem.”
In 1981, then President of Cal State LA James M. Rosser accepted a recommendation by the Homecoming Committee after a vocal push from the student body. There were multiple polls conducted by the Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) , one polling 1,000 students and a follow-up poll with 500 students. University Times staff writer Gary Camponia interviewed ASI President Yvonne Terrell, who said that it was one of her personal goals “to see that our mascot was changed.”
The fateful election was held from Wednesday, Jan. 14, to Thursday, Jan. 15, where students voted between the options of the Golden Eagles, the Oysters and the Diablos. Other options on the ballot included the Jaguars, metros, and Panthers. 931 total votes were cast, with 360 for the Eagles, 290 for Oysters, and 157 for the Diablos. Thus, the Diablos were exorcised and became forever known as the Golden Eagles.
Women’s Athletic Director Marge Callahan told Camponia that the devil mascot did not represent the image that many student-athletes wanted, adding that a better choice would be “something positive, something attacking like an eagle, not something that runs around with horns and whatever that spear is that he carried.”
The aftermath of the election was anything but smooth. In the Jan. 27 article, Lopez reported that two ASI Board members had responded to a written reprimand by Terrell after it was revealed they had stuffed 900 ballots into the polls, with 800 of them in favor of the Oysters. The board members were threatened with loss of their financial aid packages for the winter quarter, but were very brazen in their actions, claiming they “broke no rules.”
Clearly, their attempt to subvert the democratic process failed, as Cal State LA is known as the nest of the Golden Eagles instead of a sea of Oysters. However, as Diablo merchandise re-emerges, Eddie may have some competition.
This article was first published in the February 13 print edition of the University Times.
