Temoc

Temoc /ˈtiː.mɔːk/ (/tēˌmäk/) is the name of the official mascot of The University of Texas at Dallas, while student body is known collectively as the Comets.[1] He is an anthropomorphic astronomical being created to represent a "comet in a human form".[2] Temoc is depicted with bluish-white skin, a muscular physique, a strong cartoony smile (with no nose), fiery orange hair, and has black laced boots with a comet icon on the side. He is usually seen wearing UT Dallas branded orange and green t-shirts paired with gym shorts.

Temoc poses with twin students immediately following their graduation ceremony.

UTD athletic teams first officially used the mascot name "Comets" in 1981.[3][4] Temoc, the mascot character, was created and later officially recognized by the university in 1998.[5][6] The first (and only) official specialty Temoc logo was adopted by the university in 2017.[7][8]

Temoc is often seen at varsity sports games, on-campus events, and graduation ceremonies and will typically pose for pictures.[1] Additionally, he participates with the UT Dallas cheerleaders and Power Dancers team to boost school spirit.

Annual auditions are held to select students to wear the Temoc costume. However, the identity of those who wear the mascot suit is kept secret, only to be unveiled during a graduation commencement in an event known as "Temoc Reveal".[9] Former student mascot representatives that graduate will wear Temoc's costume gloves (hands) with their cap and gown as they walk across the stage to accept their diplomas.

The original 1999 Temoc mascot costume is displayed in a glass box at the Visitor's Center. The current, more friendlier, costume design was created in 2008[2][10] and is still in use today.

Name Changes

UTD's mascot was originally named "Blaze". However, the university was forced to change it after a copyright dispute was filed by UT Arlington, whose mascot shared the same name. Temoc was unanimously chosen by the UTD Student Government Association in 2002, which was crafted by spelling "comet" backwards.[5]

In 2009, the Student Government ran several rounds of online polls to change Temoc's name again. The ballot included “Scorch,” “Force,” “Striker”, and “Crusher,” along with a write-in option. Scorch won with 42% of the vote, while the write-in Temoc received 13% of the vote.[5] Despite the overwhelming response in favor of a new name, no action was officially taken.

Birthday Confusion

The comet character known as Temoc was adopted by UT Dallas on April 20, 1998.[11] He was originally drawn by UTD alumnus Aaron Aryanpur '00 as a submission to a 1998 student mascot art competition (which was held because the university did not have a mascot illustration at the time).[1][6][12] As a result, this date is popularly accepted as the mascot's birthday by the student body and alumni.

Yet from 1999 to 2019, UT Dallas did not officially celebrate Temoc's birthday on the correct date. Previously, UTD had annually hosted Temoc's birthday parties on April 18th from 2016 - 2019.[13] Prior to 2016, the mascot's birthday had been celebrated on various dates (typically in April), which include April 3,[2] April 14,[14] and May 1.[15] 2020 was the first documented year that The University of Texas at Dallas officially celebrated their mascot's birthday on April 20th (Temoc's 22nd birthday).[16]

Some speculation, though not confirmed, suggests that the university formerly did not celebrate Temoc's birthday on April 20th due to the date's association with cannabis culture. While Temoc's original name was "Blaze" and was created on the same day that 4/20 is observed, Aryanpur claims that any marijuana references were merely coincidental. However, it is more likely that the UTD administration only recorded their mascot's adoption month (not the day) & did not plan Temoc's birthday events consistently in advance, resulting in various April days being used for the first 21 years.

Failed Eliminations

1st Attempt

Students, faculty, staff, and alumni began discussion of eliminating the Temoc character (while keeping the Comets as the student body nickname) in the 2007-2008 academic year.[17] An initial poll was sent out and early write-in options included an astronaut, robot, greyhound, and a “Crusher” character. Soon after, the university had begun promoting April 3, 2008 as "Temoc's Final Birthday". In the end, the final poll gave 4 options: a fox, hawk, coyote, or a comet character.[18][19] "Comet character" won the majority with 50% of the vote, so Temoc continued to remain as the UTD mascot.[17][20][21]

2nd Attempt

In 2009, the Student Government started another campaign to replace mascot. An initial poll concluded that over 70% of students wanted choose a new mascot, which became a clear indication of Temoc's unpopularity.[22]

At the end of a lengthy exploratory research, a final poll created by a special council was given to the student body. Students were given the option to vote to keep Temoc or to change the mascot to a man in a spacesuit. Temoc won the poll by a landslide.[23] However, Temoc's win was mainly attributed to confusion based the spaceman's poor illustration - not the desire to keep the original mascot around.

So far, new alternative mascot options have been a result of failed bureaucratic compromises rather than actual student popularity. Eliminating Temoc in the future is still a strong possibility.

Backwards Naming Conventions at UTD
Construction Crane

Temoc

Temoc is "comet" spelled backwards. While the UT Dallas student body had been collectively referred to as the "comets" well before the mascot's official creation in 1998, Temoc officially solidified the college's association with the astronomical symbol.

The name "Temoc" was created and chosen by UTD's 2002 Student Body Government. The group had hastily compromised on writing the mascot's new name as "comet" backwards because they were under pressure to quickly come up with an alternative name to replace the original (Blaze) on a short notice (due to a legal warning from UT Arlington).[5]

This decision was regarded as incredibly uncreative - a consequence largely attributed by the fact that the majority of the student population was majoring in a STEM area (as opposed to the arts) at the time. As a result, the student body now often refers to various points of interest on campus by their backwards spelling. Essentially, poking fun at Temoc's ridiculous name is the sole reason why UT Dallas students still utilize backwards names to this day.

Enarc

Enarc is "crane" spelled backwards. It refers to any construction crane that resides on the main campus. Because UT Dallas has been in a period of rapid growth and development in the past decade, cranes have become an iconic moving landmark on campus. Many students will passionately proclaim Enarc as the "true" mascot;[24] a trend which grew after online communities popularized support of Enarc around 2017.[25][26][27] However, the term has been rumored to have been first used as early as 2009 or 2010.

Cranes are also considered to be an ironic deity - "Praise Enarc", "Blessed be the one who rises above us", and "May Enarc lift up our GPAs" are common phrases associated with the faux mascot.

Tobor

Tobor is "robot" spelled backwards. It refers to the automated food delivery robots that roam the sidewalks of the UTD campus.[28][29] The robots are managed by Starship Technologies.

"Comets" Mascot Origin

While Temoc (the illustrated & suited comet mascot) was created in 1998, UT Dallas had officially started calling its athletic teams the "Comets" beginning in January 1981.[3] The name was chosen by the student body and later officially confirmed in December 1980 by the college Regents along with the official school colors (forest green, orange, white) and the official new student newspaper name (The Mercury).[4][3][30] This coincided with other recent student life improvements, including the construction of the Student Center and first campus strategic plan.[31]

Published in the UTD Mercury Vol. 1 No. 3 on September 29, 1980, a simple cut-out survey on Page 8 asked UT Dallas students to submit their vote for the mascot name with the following options:[32]

  • Armadillos
  • Comets
  • Suns
  • Titans
  • Unicorns

The 5 options were selected by a special six person committee (which sorted through many of the suggestions submitted by the student body and faculty). Other mascot submissions included: Aardvarks, Crickets, Fighting Cocks, Rattlers, Wolves, Scorpions, Possums, Chipmunks, Buzzards, Demons, Sludge Monsters, Gladiators, Klingons, Toros, Rangers, Wranglers, Sagebrush Rebels, Chaparrals, Androids, Creatures from the UTD Lagoon, Texas Instruments, Space Cadets, Fat Cats, Roadsters, Prisoners, Commuters, Aggies, Thermometers, and Graduates. Official tallies of the final vote was not published. "Comets" was one of the top 3 most popular options selected by the student body and it was ultimately selected by the special committee to be officially adopted as the athletic name.

While the exact origins behind the "Comets" mascot name is unknown, The Mercury published that it was influenced by "[university] activities accented heavily by space research".[33]

UT Dallas' involvement with space research was largely supported by the first UTD President, Dr. Francis "Frank" Johnson. He noted that out of the main three departments that existed back in 1961-68 (Geosciences, Molecular Biology, and Space & Atmospheric Physics), space research was the easiest to secure government grants for while all other areas heavily relied on dwindling private philanthropy.[34][35][36] Dr. Johnson claimed that without initial funds received from NASA (largely fueled by the USA vs USSR Cold War Space Race), the fledgling university would have not been able to secure enough financial resources to continue to operate. Successful space research and collaborations helped legitimize the young graduate center's value and eventually gained enough support from Texas legislature to bring it under official state support by adding the institution to the University of Texas System in 1969.

Notable Space Research at UTD

Since its founding, astrophysics and space research has played a key role in UT Dallas' early research prowess and is intertwined with many of the college's traditions.[37][38] Several UTD faculty members and alumni's groundbreaking contributions to space science helped develop the university's current space-themed school spirit.

  • Dr. James L. Carter was one of the UT Dallas geoscientists that trained Apollo astronauts to spot interesting geology on the moon and also analyzed the lunar samples that came back. He created lunar regolith simulant (aka fake "moon dirt"), which is so chemically, mineralogically, and textually similar to the real thing that the two are practically indistinguishable. NASA has ordered over 50 tons of the material to use for testing space equipment and other research projects. All UTD class rings are surrounded by the same lunar regolith simulant material the night before the official Ring Ceremony to symbolize the university’s past and future.
  • Dr. James Reilly was the first UT Dallas alumni to become an astronaut for NASA. He has spent a combined 853 hours in space, including five spacewalks lasting more than 31 hours during which he helped assemble the International Space Station. Upon returning from his final mission, Reilly presented UTD a framed collage commemorating the flight along with a UT Dallas flag that made the trip to space. The gifts are currently displayed on the 4th floor of UT Dallas' Eugene McDermott Library.[39]
  • Dr. John Hoffman designed and built mass spectrometers and other equipment to explore Venus, the moon, and Halley’s comet and played a key role in discovering the existence of water on Mars.
  • Dr. Lloyd V. Berkner joined the institution that would become UTD in 1961 and became well renowned in the scientific community for his studies of the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere. In 1966, NASA gave Berkner its highest civilian award, the Public Service Medal, for his contributions to U.S. space programs.
  • Dr. Francis S. Johnson, an expert on the Earth’s upper atmosphere, designed atmospheric pressure testing devices that flew on Apollo flights 12, 14, and 15 to detect the existence of a lunar atmosphere in for the first manned lunar landings.
  • Dr. Michael Kesden and Nobel Laureate Dr. Russell Hulse both directly contributed to the first discovery and detection of gravitational waves (ripples in the fabric of space and time).
  • Dr. John H.L. Hansen and a team of UTD researchers digitized thousands of hours of audio from the Apollo missions. The historical audio data was preserved from NASA's original 1960s single-track audio playback machine (SoundScriber) that used multiple boxes of 1-inch tapes. Without these efforts, most of the documented communications from the world's first space missions would have been lost to time.

References
  1. "Temoc - Comet Spirit Programs - UT Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  2. "Temoc All Set for Takeoff on 10th Birthday Bash -- UT Dallas News". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  3. "Highlights Review 1971-81 Part 2" (PDF). UTD Mercury. 1981. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  4. "Chronology, 1981" (PDF). The University of Texas at Dallas Eugene McDermott Library Achieves. 1981. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  5. Mercury, The (2009-08-24). "Digging in". The Mercury. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  6. "May 2009 Alumni Link - Alumni Spotlight". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  7. "Specialty Logos - Brand Standards - The University of Texas at Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  8. "Temoc Gets a Fresh Look - UT Dallas Magazine - The University of Texas at Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  9. "Temoc the Center of New Graduation Tradition - UT Dallas Magazine - The University of Texas at Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  10. "Chess Team Beats Belgrade in Trans-Atlantic Rematch - UT Dallas News". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  11. "Caitlyn Rose Wenner - Glimpse of Graduation Spring 2018 - The University of Texas at Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  12. Aryanpur, Aaron (2019-04-21). "Aaron Aryanpur's post on Instagram: "Only 30 minutes late... In honor of #420"; comments "all of that is coincidental, as far as I know" in regards to Temoc's April 20th birthday and original name". Instagram. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  13. "Official_Temoc (@official_temoc) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  14. "The UTD Mercury April 18th Edition". Issuu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  15. "Official_Temoc on Instagram: "Hey Comets! Thanks for coming to my birthday party!"". Instagram. 2015-05-01. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  16. Spirit, UT Dallas (2020-04-15). "Temoc's 22nd Birthday is next Monday, April 20!!! Come celebrate it with him by signing his Birthday Card! Head to https://utd.link/TemocBdayCard to write a message and even upload a photo you have with Temoc to wish him Happy Birthday! pic.twitter.com/EAmR4W7jCO". @UTDallasSpirit. Retrieved 2020-04-16. External link in |title= (help)
  17. "Comet Character Shines Brightest in UT Dallas Mascot Survey". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  18. "Mascot Proposals Submitted for Campus-Wide Consideration at UT Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
  19. Wilonsky, Robert (2008-05-01). "UT Dallas Needs a New Mascot, Pronto". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
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  21. "June 2008 Alumni Link - Featured Story". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
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  26. "ENARC MERCH". Enarc Merch. Retrieved 2019-04-21.
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  33. "Sports Team Gets A Name; UTD Comets" (PDF). UTD Mercury. 1981. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  34. "University's First Leader Frank Johnson Dies at 92 - UT Dallas News". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  35. "Frank and Maurine Johnson - The University of Texas at Dallas". Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  36. "Frank Johnson - Transcripts - Creating the Future Since 1969 - The University of Texas at Dallas". www.utdallas.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-16.
  37. "Across Space And Time - UT Dallas Magazine". Retrieved 2020-02-24.
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  39. "Get to Know Jim Reilly BS'77, MS'87, PhD'95, Former NASA Astronaut". Retrieved 2020-02-24.
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