From Saltine Warrior to Otto the Orange

The Saltine Warrior, an Indian figure named Big Chief Bill Orange, was born in a hoax published in The Syracuse Orange Peel, October 1931. The remains of this 16th century Onondagan chief were supposedly found in the excavations for the new women's gymnasium in 1928. In 1951, the Senior Class commissioned a statue of the Saltine Warrior to be placed near the discovery site. In 1978, the members of a Native American student organization headed a protest against using the Saltine Warrior as an athletic mascot. Briefly in 1978 a Roman-style gladiator reigned over the sites of sports battles, but he was soon both laughed and booed off the fields. It was prophetic of his career that in his initial appearance the SU football team lost, 28-0, in a contest against the FSU Seminoles. In the following years proposals and attempts at mascots included Egnaro the Troll, a Superman-like figure, and a man in an orange tuxedo. Otto the Orange finally Won.

http://www.suathletics.com/sports/2001/8/8/mascot.aspx?