Facts about Arizona State, Arizona state, Sun Devils
- ASU was founded in 1885 as the Arizona Territorial Normal School (this is 27 years before Arizona was declared an official state), and has had five different names.
- Sparky the Sun Devil, the university’s mascot since 1946, was created by one-time Disney Studios employee Bert Anthony.
- There are over 300 palm trees on ASU’s main campus.
- Pope John Paul II held mass at Sun Devil Stadium in 1987.
- The largest snowfall ever measured in Phoenix is 1”.
- Sparky the Sun Devil got himself into trouble in 2015 after jumping on the back of Tempe city councilman David Schapira during a halftime ceremony.