Central Florida Knights Logo

When the Citronaut was unveiled on the cover of the 1968 student handbook, it came with large disapproval from its target student audience. The mascot looked like a cross between an orange and a character out of The Jetsons, a popular cartoon of the time. Either way, the students werent having any of it. Norman Van Meter, one of the designers of the university official seal, created the Citronaut, an orange with the head of an astronaut. It had actually lasted for the entire school year before the students petitioned Student Government to finally establish an official mascot. The student-ran newspaper, FuTUre, led the student cause, compiling many suggestions from its body. The students counter to the Citronaut was proposed by a night nurse at the campus health center, Judy Hines, whose husband Gene drew Vincent the Vulture. The first rendering looked ominous and mean, but later drawings portrayed a friendly, even comical bird character. Besides, the students claimed the drawing was clean, environmentally beneficial, with both the right attitude and coloring. Vincent was black and gold, corresponding with the schools colors, and opponents would be impressed with its aggressive nature. It had been inspired by the ever-present vultures that circled the campus newly cleared land from where a pine forest had stood. A determined contingent supposedly supported Vincent so earnestly, aggravating administrators that the Citronaut/Vincent the Vulture conflict would last yet another year. The story continues in the summer of 1970 as students approached Dr. Millican to offer suggestions on the much-maligned mascot crisis. Operation Mascot soon commenced and was aided by suggestion boxes located throughout campus. A committee comprised of students, staff, and faculty members would go over as many as 80 submissions (though by some accounts there were more than 200). The committee narrowed the selection down to the Chargers, Sun Devils, Thunderbolts, the Golden Paladins and the Knights of Pegasus, which had an obvious tie to the University seal. The Knights of Pegasus or Knights, as the teams were subsequently called, received 824 of the 1,313 student votes with the Golden Paladins a distant second. So after a two-year search for a mascot to represent the school, the logo was finally unveiled on Dec. 4, 1970 during a basketball game against Patrick Air Force Base.