After winning consecutive Conference USA titles, the UTSA Roadrunners football team is heading to the American Athletic Conference for the 2023 college football season. Their recent success is well-documented, but what do you know about the history of an important part of the program’s tradition, the UTSA Roadrunners mascot? It’s time to take a trip. Meep, meep!
What Is the UTSA Roadrunners Mascot?
As the name suggests, the UTSA Roadrunners mascot is a…wait for it… roadrunner. However, don’t get the mascot confused with the cartoon Road Runner, who used to outfox Wile E. Coyote in Looney Tunes.
Rowdy the Roadrunner has been the face of the UTSA athletics program since 1977. His existence far predates the formulation of a college football program at the University of Texas-San Antonio. The now highly successful football program didn’t take to the field until the 2011 CFB season.
The Roadrunners mascot design is based on the Greater Roadrunner, with a scientific name that translates to the “Californian Earth-cuckoo.” While the UTSA logo and mascot costume has evolved since 1977, Rowdy has kept his name and distinctive orange and blue coloring that has become synonymous with the football program.
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Like most mascots, Rowdy has his own unique personality. According to his UTSAcheer.com profile, the Roadrunners mascot has achieved a multitude of outstanding — completely made up for fun — accolades, some of which we’ve listed out for your entertainment below.
- In 1983, Rowdy won the World Series of Poker with a hand consisting of a Joker, two of clubs, seven of spades, a green number four UNO card, and a Get Out of Jail Free Monopoly card.
- In 2011, he was cast as ABC’s next Bachelor, but due to his commitments as the UTSA Roadrunners mascot in their first college football season, Rowdy was forced to decline.
- Rowdy firmly believes that Rome would have been built in a day if they had followed his blueprints correctly.
- Rowdy once narrowly won a staring competition against his own reflection.
- The UTSA Roadrunners mascot was once voted more popular than the Kardashians.
As you can see, the UTSA mascot truly puts the fun into football, and that’s what college football is meant to be, right? Buried in amongst the never-ending arguments about NIL and the transfer portal, once you remove the competitive element of winning a national or conference title, the game is meant to be fun.
Rowdy the Roadrunner certainly adds that element.
Why Is the UTSA Mascot a Roadrunner?
Rowdy is undeniably one of the most fun and distinctive mascots in college football. However, why is the mascot for the program a roadrunner in the first place? What if we told you that, in 1977, they were nearly the UTSA Armadillos or the less imaginative UTSA Stars?
Well, that was nearly the case.
When it was decided that the program needed a mascot in 1977, it was put to a student vote to decide the name and nature of the unique identity of the university. According to documents released in 1987, there were over 50 potential suggestions.
Those were narrowed down to nine and put to a student vote in November 1977. Eagle, el conquistador, jaguar, puma, roadrunner, toro, and vaquero, were all cast aside, leaving the armadillos and stars as the top two contenders.
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A 1977 sketch shows a ferocious-looking armadillo, complete with green eyes and sharpened claws, that was used as campaign material for supporters of the animal that many considered to be symbolic of the area of Texas hill country that UTSA called home.
Meanwhile, in a sentiment that was well before its time, Athletic Director Rudy Davalos argued that the star was a suitable mascot given that it “is neither masculine or feminine and equally can represent men and women athletes.”
Both arguments were declared moot when the Student Representative Assembly deemed the original vote void, and following a new ballot, the roadrunner defeated the armadillo to become the face of UTSA athletics forever more.
