#60 Birth of the Mustang name

[PK]

http://smumustangs.collegesports.com/sp ... ts-60.html

[DiamondM75]

Although the words to the song were changed some years later, Peruna remained as SMU's mascot.

The words changed? To what? I don't know of any other words to Peruna.

[1982Express]

Diamond- Cy Barcus was weary of the name Peruna and the use of it at first. But when he read the original words which were actually word for word from She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain with Peruna thrown in here and there, he took a liking to the sound of it. Barcus proceeded to cut parts of the of the song and adjust it so it sounded better. So Barcus cut the later versus of the song and focused on the first, I am assuming that is where the change that is referred to occured. As time has gone on band directors have toyed with the wording and music, but its has basically stayed the same since Barcus in the late 1920s. Your resident band geek 82Express

[jtstang]

I think that Ford Mustang story is just an urban myth. I've never seen any confirmation of it outside of somebody with a connection to SMU.

[PK]

If you will notice jt, our mustang logo is the exact same shape as the one on the car. There has to have been some collaboration there along the way. Prior to the existance of the Ford Mustang, our logo looked nothing like the current one and I doubt that Ford would have allowed our use of their logo just to be nice unless there was some connection there.

[jtstang]

If you will notice jt, our mustang logo is the exact same shape as the one on the car. There has to have been some collaboration there along the way. Prior to the existance of the Ford Mustang, our logo looked nothing like the current one and I doubt that Ford would have allowed our use of their logo just to be nice unless there was some connection there.

Even after the car appeared in '64 we had logos that did not look like Ford's, so I'm not sure that makes a connection, other than we copied them. Sorry PK, you'll have to find an independant corroborating source. Iococca himself would do--is he still alive?

[East Coast Mustang]

Even after the car appeared in '64 we had logos that did not look like Ford's, so I'm not sure that makes a connection, other than we copied them. Sorry PK, you'll have to find an independant corroborating source. Iococca himself would do--is he still alive?

I have a book called The Name Game which details how teams got their nicknames. For SMU, it has the same story mentioned in the smumustangs.com article about Iacocca naming the new Ford sports car after the Michigan game. Furthermore, the book says that SMU adopted the Ford Mustang logo, and it was agreed that the school's logo would always run facing the right, while the car logo would run facing the left.

[jtstang]

I have a book called The Name Game which details how teams got their nicknames. For SMU, it has the same story mentioned in the smumustangs.com article about Iacocca naming the new Ford sports car after the Michigan game. Furthermore, the book says that SMU adopted the Ford Mustang logo, and it was agreed that the school's logo would always run facing the right, while the car logo would run facing the left.

I'm not surpirsed your book says that. A reader review from Amazon:

Ever wondered why in the world a college calls their athletes their particular nickname? With this book you will never wonder again! In this well-reasearched guide, Lessiter "left no stone unturned" and spoke with the Sports Information folks at every single Division I school to find out about the orign of each school's nickname(s). Small school or large, perpetual top 25 ranked team or cellar-dweller, they are all here for your reference and enlightenment. Several enjoyable drawings are sprinkled throughout the text.

I just wish the official Ford Motor Company historian would come out and endorse this story.

And doesn't the SMU Mustang's direction depend on which side of the helmet you are looking at? I mean, if you could see it in the midst of all that midnight blue.

[East Coast Mustang]

I'm not surpirsed your book says that. A reader review from Amazon:

Ever wondered why in the world a college calls their athletes their particular nickname? With this book you will never wonder again! In this well-reasearched guide, Lessiter "left no stone unturned" and spoke with the Sports Information folks at every single Division I school to find out about the orign of each school's nickname(s). Small school or large, perpetual top 25 ranked team or cellar-dweller, they are all here for your reference and enlightenment. Several enjoyable drawings are sprinkled throughout the text.

I just wish the official Ford Motor Company historian would come out and endorse this story.

This book isn't by anyone named Lessiter...it's by someone named Michael Leo Donovan, but he may have contacted the school as well for all we know.

And doesn't the SMU Mustang's direction depend on which side of the helmet you are looking at? I mean, if you could see it in the midst of all that midnight blue.

Well, It'd be sort of silly if the Mustang was running towards the facemask on one side and away from it on the other. However, all other Mustang logos I've seen have the horse running towards the right.

[jtstang]

I see. Yours must be called "Yankees to Fighting Irish: What's Behind Your Favorite Team's Name" as per Amazon. No info on how he obtained his stories. If you interested in and/or a collector of such trivia, the Lessiter book is called "The Names of the Games" and he has one for pro teams and one for college teams. And while I don't know the definitive answer to your running mustang question, other than one side of the helmets, I cannot recall any left-facing ponies either.

[PK]

JT, you may be on to something here. At least an early Ford prototype two seater produced in 1962 had the current mustang logo on it and according to a story about it, it was called "Mustang I". The article stated, "Early 1962: Lee Iacocca decided that Ford should have a sporty car. Head of styling Gene Bordinat was to consider shapes for the car. John Najjar and Jim Sipple were asked to work on two-seater ideas. Their result looked promising enough on paper to go ahead with a full-model first in clay. Najjar, an aviation buff, named it Mustang to honour the World War II fighter plane." As you can see by the spelling of the word "honour" the author was a Brit. Now does he really know or not is a good question.

When was this game against Michigan played? The Mustang name existed as early as 1962.

[East Coast Mustang]

When was this game against Michigan played? The Mustang name existed as early as 1962.

According to smumustangs.com, the game was played during the 1963 season.

[jtstang]

http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/images/Mustang1_proto.gif

If this works, i post a picture of the 1962 prototype Mustang 1. Looks to have the mustang emblem on the side.

[PK]

I think that even though the Mustang name had been used on the prototype two seater, it may have still been questionable at the time of our game with Michigan as to what they were going to call the four seater they finally brought to market in 1964. The reason I say that is that I've seen a picture of a car that appears to be pretty close to the final product that has a stylized couger on the grill.


I couldn't get a larger image for my post. If you go to http://www.allfordmustangs.com/Detailed/120.shtml and click on the image there, it will be big enough to see what I am talking about.

[jtstang]

That is an interesting pic. In fact, Mercury came out with the Cougar not long after in the 60s as I recall and the body was very close to the Mustang...maybe the grill changed a bit I think...