2008season - UMKC Athletics

the evolution ofkasey kangaroo
What do The
Kansas City
Star, Walt Disney
and the
Kansas City Zoo
have in common?
All are
pieces to a puzzle
concerning
the question,
“How in the
world did UMKC
pick a Kangaroo
as its mascot?”
The Kangaroo
issue was first
brought up in
1936 when the
editors of The
University (then
named Kansas
City University) newspaper decided it was time to
find a mascot for the debate team.
There were no organized University athletic teams
at the time, yet the students on the newspaper staff
still wanted a unique identity for their debate team
and, more importantly, their school.
The fire was lit later that year when an article appeared
in The Kansas City Star titled “Kangaroo
May Go to KCU ... Student Editors Believe University
Should Have a Symbol.” Interest in the mascot was
also spurred by the Kansas City Zoo’s purchase of
two baby kangaroos about that same time and the
subsequent publicity generated by the Kangaroo
nearly suffered a quick demise in 1937 when the
editors of the University yearbook The Crataegus
decided that a kangaroo was not an appropriate
university symbol. They opted to delete the proposed
kangaroo emblem from the yearbook’s feature
section, but supporters of the mascot began a
vocal attack.
Just as the criticism began to mount and support
for the kangaroo was beginning to wane, famed
cartoonist Walt Disney came to the rescue. In April
1937, a leading KCU political group, the CO-OP Party,
won a landslide election with “Kasey the Kangaroo”
as its insignia. “Kasey,”the group stated,
fit KC.
The same month, the first issue of the KCU humor
magazine The Kangaroo was published. Six
months after the first kangaroo appeared on the
cover, another kangaroo was featured, this time
alongside Mickey Mouse. The artist of this drawing
was the famous Disney, and support for the kangaroo
mounted.
In a matter of a few years, The Crataegus folded
and The Kangaroo became the school’s yearbook.
Over the years, the kangaroo went through numerous
changes and refinements before a final edition
was agreed upon via a special committee appointed
by then-chancellor Randall Whaley.
The Athletics Department introduced a new set of
marks in November, 2004, working with Plan B.
Branding of San Diego, Calif., to create the identity.
The Kangaroos is a unique nickname, and UMKC
shares it with a slight few. Just two other colleges
in the nation use Kangaroos as its nickname —
Austin College in Sherman, Texas and State University
of New York at Canton. The Akron Zips, meanwhile,
use the kangaroo as its mascot.
To the right and below: Kasey Kangaroo has gone through
several makeovers throughout the years, culminating in the
current athletic marks and mascot.
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