Then There Was the Time Michigan State’s Sparty Was Just a Head

If you've never seen photos of Sparty from his early days at Michigan State, and you're prone to nightmares, you may want to move along.

Still with us? Good. According to the Lansing State Journal, there was no MSU Sparty mascot until 1955. Who came up with the idea for the first Sparty "mascot"? Some frat brothers (so, think about that next time you make fun of frat boys). Back in 1955, the Sparty mascot was just some frat guy wearing a 60 pound paper-mache head. The Sparty YOU know and love didn't really come into being until 1989.

Gotta admit, "Big Head" Sparty was a little freaky looking. And he had to take his head off so fans could see the game. Thank god for 21st century mascot technology.

Here's the story. With freaky photos.

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