Kansas Jayhawks History

Origin of Jayhawk

Each spring, as the University of Kansas graduates a new class of Jayhawks, the origin of its name comes into question. It's known that the term, "Jayhawk", was used as early as 1849. In that year, a party of pioneers crossing what is today Nebraska, called themselves "The Jayhawkers of '49." They are believed to have taken the name from a combination of two birds which are familiar in the West -- the hawk and the blue jay. Whether these pioneers were the first to call themselves Jayhawkers is not known.

One member of the party, John B. Colton, later remembered first hearing the word in Platte River in 1849, long before the Kansas Territory was established. Colton said when the Argonauts returned to the East, the word continued to be used.

The word "Jayhawk" first was used in present day Kansas about 1858. It was associated with robbing, looting and general lawlessness. During the Civil War, however, it took a new meaning.

Dr. Charles R. (Doc) Jennison, a surgeon, used it in 1861 when he was commissioned as a colonel by Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson and charged with raising a regiment of calvary. Jennison called his regiment the "Independent Mounted Kansas Jayhawkers," although it was officially the First Kansas Cavalry and later the Seventh Kansas Regiment.


During the Civil War, the word Jayhawk became associated with the spirit of comradeship and the courageous fighting qualities associated with the efforts to keep Kansas a free state. Following the war, most Kansans were proud to be called Jayhawkers.

By 1866, the University of Kansas at Lawrence had adopted the mythical bird as a part of the KU yell. By the mid 1890s, birds of one sort or another were used to represent KU on postcards and wall posters - even the university yearbook became known as the Jayhawker Yearbook.

But it was not until 1912 that Henry Maloy, a student from Eureka, Kan., created a cartoon Jayhawk. The image has evolved through six changes to the modern day bird, symbolic of the University of Kansas. In fact, the current Jayhawk logo celebrated its 50th anniversary this past year.

School Colors

The University of Kansas colors, crimson and blue, used since the early 1890s, are not the colors originally adopted by the university Board of Regents in the 1860s. The regents had decided to adopt the Michigan colors, maize and sky blue.

Maize and blue were used at early oratorical meets, and they may have been used when Kansas competed in rowing in the middle 1880s. However, when football came upon the scene in 1890, the student backers wanted to use Harvard crimson as the athletic color in honor of Col. John J. McCook, a Harvard man, who had given money for an athletic field at KU. That field ran east and west in the proximity of where the north bowl of Memorial Stadium stands on the Kansas campus today.

Until that time, Kansas football games were played at Central Park on Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence. Some Yale men were on the faculty, and they demanded that Yale blue be included. The rooters rallied forth to follow crimson and blue on their team. No one fought to retain the original colors, and the vivid deeper tone crimson and blue became generally used. Finally, in May 1896, the KU Athletic Board adopted crimson and blue as the official team colors for the university.

Rock Chalk Chant

The Rock Chalk Chant has been the battle cry of KU fans for over 100 years. This strange, traditional chant, which is among the most famous of all college cheers, was started by E.H.S. Bailey, a professor of chemistry.

Bailey wanted a cheer for his Science Club. Returning from a convention in Wichita, Bailey and some associates patterned the yell after the rhythmic cadence of their train rolling along the tracks. On May 21, 1886, Bailey submitted the cheer to his club. Originally, the chant was "Ray, Rah, Jay Hawk, K.U." repeating the words three times. This yell was used by the science club the next year and there were frequent allusions to "The Science Club Yell" in the student newspapers

An English professor suggested that "Rock Chalk" be substituted for "Rah, Rah" because it rhymed with Jayhawk and because it would be symbolic of the chalky limestone formations found on Mount Oread.

The chant was adopted as the college yell after the state oratorical contest in Topeka in 1886 because KU student yells for the their winners were enthusiatic, but unorganized. By the Fall of 1887 the yell was know as the offical yell of the school as the student newspaper reported on November 4, 1887,

"Every college of importance in this country has a college cry. In every town in which a college is situated, the midnight air resounds with the hideous yells of the student, symbolic of victory, defeat, or devilment. The students of the University of Kansas use their yell but little and it is only admidst great victory that "Rock-chalk-Jay-Hawk, K-U-U-U floats throught the midnight air reminding one of a band of Apache Indians."

By 1889 the form of the cheer had changed to the drawn-out cadence repeated twice, followed by three staccato repetitions.