The Mascot Who Started It All:
50 Years, 60 Million Fans, One Chicken Suit
San Diego, CA · Baseball (and multi-sport)
★Mascot Hall of Fame — Class of 2005
| Team / Organization | San Diego Padres (unofficial; performs independently across all sports) |
|---|---|
| Location | San Diego, CA |
| League / Division | MLB (independent / multi-sport performer) |
| First Debuted | Spring 1974 (San Diego Zoo Easter promotion for KGB-FM Radio) |
| Species / Type | Chicken |
| Best Known For | Pioneering the modern sports mascot industry; 5,000+ appearances in 50 states and 8 countries; co-starring on Emmy-winning TV show The Baseball Bunch |
| Year Inducted | 2005 |
Profile
In 1974, a 20-year-old San Diego State journalism major named Ted Giannoulas took a $2/hour gig handing out Easter eggs at the San Diego Zoo in a chicken suit. He never left — and sports mascotry was never the same. The New York Times called him “perhaps the most influential mascot in sports history.” The Sporting News named him one of the 100 most powerful people in sports of the 20th century. The entire modern mascot industry traces a direct line to his yellow feathers.
Fun Facts
- The Chicken’s ‘Grand Hatching’ on June 29, 1979 — where he burst from a 10-foot Styrofoam egg on an armored car before 47,000 fans as the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey played — is cited by baseball historians as one of the greatest PR spectacles in the sport’s history.
- After winning a lawsuit against radio station KGB over rights to his chicken persona, Giannoulas designed his own new costume (sewn by his mother, a professional seamstress) and has worn that same design ever since.
- Giannoulas has performed in over 5,100 appearances across 917 different venues in all 50 states and eight countries, playing to more than 60 million fans in live audiences over 50+ years.
