Monthly Archives: December 2013
Collegiate Manufacturing Company of Ames
When I was in Ames this past summer, I became curious about the history of Collegiate Manufacturing Company after seeing the Cy costume created by them on display in the Iowa State Alumni Center. I didn’t realize that Collegiate’s role in Iowa State history went much deeper.
First, an aside: some people erroneously believe the original Iowa State teams were formerly known as the Cardinals, which has no basis in history. In a previous story, I shared the zany adventures of the 1895 Ames football team that earned the Cyclones nickname. Prior to 1895, references to the athletics teams of Iowa Agricultural College/Iowa State College were usually the “Ames eleven” or “Ames nine” (for football and baseball). I’ve also seen numerous reference to the “Iowa Aggies” since Aggie was a common nickname for many agricultural schools of the era formed by the Morrill Act in 1862. At the time the 1895 football team earned the nickname Cyclones, the school colors were silver, black, and gold. It wasn’t until 1899 that the school colors of cardinal and gold were established, well after the Cyclone moniker took root. As ISC grew through the 20th century, numerous organizations were established–such as the Cardinal Key in 1926–that took inspiration from the school colors. It wasn’t until the 1950s that a cardinal bird named Cy became the official mascot of Iowa State College.
In light of billion dollar TV contracts and apparel deals, many have cast a jaundiced gaze upon the rise of corporate influence in amateur sports–most famously with Nike and the University of Oregon. Nike has drastically changed the uniforms, facilities, and logo of Oregon in a quest for increased success and profitability. In recent years, Under Armour has attempted to mimic Oregon’s relatively new success by making the University of Maryland their flagship school. However, this isn’t a new trend. The close–but benign–relationship between Collegiate and Iowa State College gave birth to Cy.
Iowa State Digital Collections
The Internet has made research vastly easier and the ever-expanding Iowa State University Digital Collections has helped me make some crucial connections while studying Cyclone athletic history. Athough some photos are mislabeled or have incorrect dates and there are still large gaps, I hope ISU keeps bolstering this archive because its an important look at Ames in the early days. In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite photos.
There are quite a few photos of State Gym in the collection. Look at two different proposed designs, which clearly didn’t get built.
