Hal Sandy, creator of KU’s ‘Happy Jayhawk,’ has died at 93

Harold “Hal” Sandy, creator of the current version of the Kansas Jayhawk known as the “Happy Jayhawk,” died on Dec. 9, the Kansas University Alumni Association has reported. He was 93.

Sandy, a resident of Prairie Village, designed the Happy Jayhawk or “Smiling Jayhawk,” in 1946, following World War II, while he was a student at KU.

According to the alumni association, the Jayhawk used at KU at the time was depicted as too aggressive in nature. Discussions with KU officials, including director of public relations Ed Browne, led to Sandy creating a Jayhawk that was more in line with the country’s new postwar attitude.

The alumni association indicated Sandy sold the design and an inventory of decals to KU Bookstore for $250. Licensing royalty income for Sandy’s Jayhawk now brings in more than $2 million per year to KU. The Jayhawk is the only cartoon that Sandy, a 1947 KU graduate and retired marketing consultant who founded his own advertising agency, ever created.

“It was drawn completely without computers,” Sandy told the Lawrence Journal-World in 2008. “They weren’t even imagined at the time. I drew it all using India ink and then did the coloring myself.”

According to Sandy’s obituary in The Kansas City Star, “his wife Wilda and his cats, Buddy and Sister, will eternally miss this dear sweet man. A nephew Charles Zerr, M.D. survives. No service nor memorial. Anatomical remains to KU School of Medicine. Kind remembrances may be made to Friends of Arrow Rock, Box 124, Arrow Rock, MO, 65320, or to Watkins Mill Assn., Box 704, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024.”

David Johnston of the KU Alumni Association wrote a story on his 2005 meeting with Sandy.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Hal Sandy, creator of KU’s ‘Happy Jayhawk,’ has died at 93."