Osceola and Renegade
Osceola and Renegade debuted at a September 16, 1978 game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys. They proved quite popular, and subsequently other faux-Indian traditions arose, including the "War Chant" in 1984 and the "Tomahawk Chop" shortly after. Durham oversaw the Osceola tradition for 25 years, and over time aspects of the performance have become more refined and regulated. In 2002, Durham retired and passed his role on to his son Allen Durham, a former Osceola portrayer.
In the 1980s and 1990s, when mascots based on Native Americans became more controversial and many Native Americans and supporters protested their use, Florida State consulted with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, emphasizing that Osceola was never intended to be demeaning. Several representatives of the Seminole Tribe, including Chairman James E. Billie and Council Member Max Osceola, have given FSU their blessing to use Osceola and Seminole imagery. However, the matter remains controversial for other Florida Seminoles, as well as members of the Seminole Tribe of Oklahoma. Critics have noted a political undercurrent in the support from Florida Seminole leaders, who are heavily involved in business ventures such as Indian casinos in the state. In 2005, the NCAA added FSU to a list of schools facing potential sanctions for using "hostile and abusive" Indian mascots and names; after much deliberation, the NCAA gave FSU an exemption, citing the university's relationship with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as a major factor.
California State University, East Bay
The mascot of the university is the Pioneer. At the inception of the athletic program in 1961 the student body chose a spacesuit clad Space Pioneer as the mascot. In the years since the mascot was shortened to the Pioneers and took a more terrestrial image; first as a frontiersman with a coonskin cap and then as a forty-niner who is reminiscent of Yosemite Sam. In the 1980s the student body voted to change the mascot to the Vampires, but the decision was overturned by then-president Ellis McCune. In 2005 there was talk of changing the mascot along with the university's name change. The original plan was to unveil the new mascot by the end of the 2004-2005 academic year. However, there was little student support for a mascot change; a majority of the students and faculty were in favor of keeping the Pioneer as the school mascot while supporting a redesign of the Pioneer image. A final decision on whether or not to keep the Pioneer as the mascot of the university was to be reached before the 2006-2007 academic year but is still an open question in 2010. A new athletics logo was unveiled on November 20, 2009 at a home opener basketball game.