Phoenix in Popular Culture - As Mascot/symbol

As Mascot/symbol

• Following the Munich Air Crash, Manchester United wore a phoenix on their shirts in the 1958 FA Cup final
• The City of Atlanta, Georgia, USA has the creature on the city seal and Flag.
• The City of Phoenix, Arizona, USA, uses its namesake creature in the city's flag, and as the city's logo.
• The city of San Francisco, California has a phoenix on its flag, symbolizing the city's rise from the ashes of multiple fires and earthquakes from the mid-19th century through 1906.
• The phoenix figures as a supporter on the coat of arms of Coventry, signifying its rise from the ashes after heavy bombing in World War II. It is also the logo of Coventry University. Similarly, the phoenix is the symbol of Caen University, symbolizing its revival after its complete destruction in 1944. Exeter, England, also has this connection with the phoenix after the Exeter Blitz on 4 May 1942.
• Since 1999 the Phoenix has been the mascot of Elon University in Elon, NC. The choice came from the fact that in 1923, a fire destroyed most of the campus, including school records, classrooms, the library, and the chapel. Soon after the fire, the university trustees began planning to make Elon "rise from the ashes" and the five buildings constructed to replace those lost currently form the academic center of the school. In addition to this the school's colors are maroon and gold, to match the Phoenix's plumage.
• The Phoenix is the official mascot of Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. In 2002, the Olin Partners and Virtual Olin Partners selected the phoenix as the school's mascot. This mascot, sometimes unofficially called "Frank," represents Olin's willingness to reinvent itself, just as the phoenix is reborn from its ashes.
• The Phoenix is the mascot of the University of Chicago. An earlier institution by the same name, now known as Old University of Chicago had been founded (on a different site) by Stephen Douglas in 1859, but closed by 1889; the phoenix was chosen as a mascot of the new university to symbolize its rise from the ashes of the old. The phoenix also symbolized the city of Chicago's rebirth following the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
• The Phoenix is also the mascot of Swarthmore College, which adopted the Phoenix as its first ever mascot in June 2006. The name of their mascot is Phineas the Phoenix.
• The original seal of The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, designed by George Wythe bore an image of a Phoenix. The seal was used by the College from 1783 to 1929. The first connection between the College and the Phoenix occurred in 1705 after the Wren Building, the oldest academic building in continuous use in America, first burned to the ground. James Blair, the founder of the College, promised that William and Mary would be like a phoenix, rising from the charred shell of the old Wren Building. His portrait at the College has a phoenix rising from the base of the Wren in the background. There is also an engraved bronze image of a Phoenix located on Landrum Drive between old campus and new campus. The monument was donated by the class of 1932 in honor of the College's 275th anniversary. The Queen’s Guard at the college has a phoenix, modified to suggest the American eagle, on a field of ermine as their insignia.
• The Phoenix is the official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
• It is also the symbol for three fraternities, and one sorority. The phoenix of Alpha Sigma Phi represents the fraternity's refounding in the early 1900s. For Sigma Alpha Epsilon, it signifies the rebirth of chapters as members leave and new ones are initiated, For Alpha Theta Sigma, it symbolizes eternal existence of the Organization. The Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha recognizes the sorority's reorganization in 1914.
• The mascot of Rice University is an owl, however, each one of its residential colleges have their own unique crests and mascots. The phoenix is both the mascot and the crest of Will Rice.
• The University of Southern Queensland features a Phoenix on its coat of arms, with the motto Per Studia Mens Nova, Latin for "Through study the mind is renewed".
• Following a fire that destroyed the Paddington tram depot in 1962, the Brisbane City Council constructed eight trams from material salvaged from the ruins of the depot. The livery of these trams featured a small picture of a phoenix underneath the motorman's windows, to signify that these trams had "risen from the ashes".
• Grey College of the University of Durham has adopted the Phoenix as its unofficial mascot since its founding in 1959. This was due to the devastation by fire of the then main building of the college, Elvet, just months before the opening.
• The Royal Australian Air Force's 79 squadron, flying Hawk 127 aircraft in the lead in fighter trainer role, has a phoenix on its crest which symbolizes squadron's many re-incarnations.
• The 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron of the US Air Force at Hurlburt Field, Florida, has the phoenix on its unit emblem.
• Cypriot football team of Anorthosis Famagusta has Phoenix as its sign along with part of the Greek flag. Both symbolize Greek ethnicity in the island.
• A Phoenix dubbed "Cedrus" was chosen as a logo and mascot of the 6th Francophone games held in Lebanon.
• Wellington Phoenix FC is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand, competing in the Australasian A-League.
• The name of the pod that was made to rescue 33 men in the 2010 Copiapó mining accident in Chile on Oct. 13, 2010.
• GM's Pontiac Firebird sported a decal of a huge phoenix on the hood of its Trans Am model. Although it came in vogue in the early seventies, the decal stayed as a cornerstone of the styling until the early eighties before it was phased out.
• The Pontiac Phoenix was a compact car sold from 1977 to 1984 by the Pontiac division of General Motors.
• Dallas based Tex-Mex chain El Fenix is named for the bird.
• A lighted sculpture of a phoenix was recently used as part of the closing ceremony of the Games of the XXX Olympiad in LondonEngland.