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Where Did The SOW Come From?

UNT Alumni Lifer
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UNT Alumni Lifer Newbie

UNT Alumni Lifer

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I'm a Navy (aviation) Vet & military aviation enthusiast. Not sure if this has been brought up previously, but I came across some pics of a Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornet & the new F-35 with a VERY familiar squadron logo. 

I can't remember when UNT rebranded, but I found a 2003 pic from this squadron with this logo. You can Google "RAAF 3 Squadron" for more info. Is this where we got our SOW? I was pretty shocked when I saw it.

raaf_f-18_no3squadron.jpg20110408_9999_24.jpg180326-F-BI157-203-960x640.jpg

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Salsa_Verde Veteran

Salsa_Verde

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Wow great find! Now I have a lot of questions 🧐....they look very very similar. I believe the Sow first started being used in 2005. Never heard the story of how It came to be 

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UNT Alumni Lifer Newbie

UNT Alumni Lifer

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2005 sounds about right. I would imagine UNT would have received permission to use a similar logo. It's not the exact same but close enough that permission should be required. I believe I've heard of or seen another instance of an organization using a logo similar to a military unit. Maybe it's not a big deal with defense departments.

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UNT 90 Grad Grand Master

UNT 90 Grad

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10 hours ago, UNT Alumni Lifer said:

I'm a Navy (aviation) Vet & military aviation enthusiast. Not sure if this has been brought up previously, but I came across some pics of a Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18 Hornet & the new F-35 with a VERY familiar squadron logo. 

I can't remember when UNT rebranded, but I found a 2003 pic from this squadron with this logo. You can Google "RAAF 3 Squadron" for more info. Is this where we got our SOW? I was pretty shocked when I saw it.

raaf_f-18_no3squadron.jpg20110408_9999_24.jpg180326-F-BI157-203-960x640.jpg

diving-eagle_356_0r_0.png

Meh.  The second to the top feather on the far wing is much shorter on SOW.  Completely different eagle.

 

 

 

 

😉

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drex Experienced

drex

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Close, but no cigar.  I suspicion that one of them was inspired by the other.  It would be interesting to know the time line for both logos.

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greenb.o.g. Enthusiast

greenb.o.g.

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I don't think you have to worry about international trademark infringement. Trademarks are only legally binding within the domestic United States. I believe there are some international court remedies, but I doubt the Australian Navy is very concerned with the University of North Texas' athletic department.

That is an awesome find!! Some beautiful FA-18s!! 

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Stix Mentor

Stix

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It's completely different  - it's facing the opposite direction! 😀

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Aquila_Viridis Rising Star

Aquila_Viridis

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I mean, what would we do anyway? They have bombs and missiles!  😁

Supposing ours was based on that (clearly one is based on the other), we couldn't have picked something better than a fighter jet. Memphis got their tiger logo from a circus ad.

Maybe there's a license agreement and mutual defense treaty.

Edited by Aquila_Viridis
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HoustonEagle Enthusiast

HoustonEagle

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So the long explanation about how our current Eagle took cues from the stylized worm logo of the 70’s was complete and utter bullshit?  People here seem to be taking this pretty well.  We clearly ripped off our logo, gave no credit to its original creator and fed students and alumni a line of BS about its creation.

 

 

 

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UNT Alumni Lifer Newbie

UNT Alumni Lifer

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So I've researched more & the RAAF squadron might not have started using it until around 2007. Possibly the pic I found was not from 2003. I'm actually going to reach out to the squadron to see if they can give me a year they started using that logo. Still pretty cool the similarities!

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MeanGreen13 Collaborator

MeanGreen13

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10 hours ago, HoustonEagle said:

So the long explanation about how our current Eagle took cues from the stylized worm logo of the 70’s was complete and utter bullshit?  People here seem to be taking this pretty well.  We clearly ripped off our logo, gave no credit to its original creator and fed students and alumni a line of BS about its creation.

 

 

 

That seems like a bit of a leap... nothing clear about it. 

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FirefightnRick Experienced

FirefightnRick

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4 hours ago, UNT Alumni Lifer said:

So I've researched more & the RAAF squadron might not have started using it until around 2007. Possibly the pic I found was not from 2003. I'm actually going to reach out to the squadron to see if they can give me a year they started using that logo. Still pretty cool the similarities!

North Texas released our latest branding, which includes the SOW in May of 2003.  

The committee,... assembled by Dr. Norval Pohl and the URCM department, led by Deborah Liliyeart(ret),...now the UBSC (University Brand Strategy & Communications)Department...spent a large portion of 2002 and into 2003 designing the new marks.  

If I recall correctly the designers were a compilation of 5 or 6 graphic & design students and professors from UNT and maybe one outsider?

Somewhere I have a box of FOI papers that described the process they went thru to come up with everything,, and I believe the university spent around $200,000 for the process to be finalized?

Anyhow, the SOW derives it’s design and name from the 1970’s stylized Eagle used on the 1970’s era football team helmets.  Coach Hayden Fry asked that the university hold a campus-wide design competition but a member of the athletic department staff, an extremely talented alumn named Rick Spears drew it up on a restaurant napkin and showed it to Coach Fry and he loved it and that was it.  But many did not care for it at first and called it “The Fly’n Worm” and that nickname stuck.  Mr. Spears hated that it became known as that “The Fly’n Worm” but like I always told him it’s now become one of the most unique and legendary logos in our history and he should be proud of it.  And he was..

So when the new logo came out it was very well recieved, plus it was stated that the new logo’s designers took some of the Fly’n Worm’s characteristics....so everyone started affectionately calling it “The SOW”...Son Of Worm,..and here we are.  

I think it’s a great tribute and honor to one of our greatest coaches, eras and alumns.

As for Mr. Spears he was quite the character and posted as “GreenGrenadeII” here on gmg till he passed away back around 2010 I think it was?   He was one of the most talented dudes I’ve ever known.  He was an artist,..accomplished pianist and marketing genius and knew more history about the Mean Green and more stories than you could ever imagine.  He gave several of us a large print copy of what he imagined Apogee would look like years before the stadium was ever built and it truly shows how great of an artistic imagination he had..  

I really miss him.

 

Rick

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GrandGreen Grand Master

GrandGreen

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4 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

North Texas released our latest branding, which includes the SOW in May of 2003.  

The committee,... assembled by Dr. Norval Pohl and the URCM department, led by Deborah Liliyeart(ret),...now the UBSC (University Brand Strategy & Communications)Department...spent a large portion of 2002 and into 2003 designing the new marks.  

If I recall correctly the designers were a compilation of 5 or 6 graphic & design students and professors from UNT and maybe one outsider?

Somewhere I have a box of FOI papers that described the process they went thru to come up with everything,, and I believe the university spent around $200,000 for the process to be finalized?

Anyhow, the SOW derives it’s design and name from the 1970’s stylized Eagle used on the 1970’s era football team helmets.  Coach Hayden Fry asked that the university hold a campus-wide design competition but a member of the athletic department staff, an extremely talented alumn named Rick Spears drew it up on a restaurant napkin and showed it to Coach Fry and he loved it and that was it.  But many did not care for it at first and called it “The Fly’n Worm” and that nickname stuck.  Mr. Spears hated that it became known as that “The Fly’n Worm” but like I always told him it’s now become one of the most unique and legendary logos in our history and he should be proud of it.  And he was..

So when the new logo came out it was very well recieved, plus it was stated that the new logo’s designers took some of the Fly’n Worm’s characteristics....so everyone started affectionately calling it “The SOW”...Son Of Worm,..and here we are.  

I think it’s a great tribute and honor to one of our greatest coaches, eras and alumns.

As for Mr. Spears he was quite the character and posted as “GreenGrenadeII” here on gmg till he passed away back around 2010 I think it was?   He was one of the most talented dudes I’ve ever known.  He was an artist,..accomplished pianist and marketing genius and knew more history about the Mean Green and more stories than you could ever imagine.  He gave several of us a large print copy of what he imagined Apogee would look like years before the stadium was ever built and it truly shows how great of an artistic imagination he had..  

I really miss him.

 

Rick

Thanks for the real story behind the SOW.  If it was copied from something else, NT sure paid a lot of money for a duplicate.

The Australian version was probably not trademarked, copyrighted or at least not for the USA.

There are thousands of eagle mascot variations.  There has to be a lot of similarity between many. 

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NM Green Experienced

NM Green

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The Honda wings I believe they are remind me of our SOW. Always have, Took awhile but love our logo now.

gmg

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greenminer Grand Master

greenminer

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3 hours ago, GrandGreen said:

There are thousands of eagle mascot variations.  There has to be a lot of similarity between many. 

My class was involved in the selection of colors/mascot for our high school. As we were polled for animals/mascots, the administration had an outside advisor come in and explain to us that birds (hawks, eagles, etc...) are very limiting.  Apparently there isn't much you can do with them compared to other animals, so. you end up with a lot of similarity.

My current favorite hat is a UNT hat with this very eagle on it.  9/10 times I get asked about it, the person thinks I'm a Philadelphia fan.

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UNT Alumni Lifer Newbie

UNT Alumni Lifer

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Great post Rick, as usual.

I love the SOW. I believe it's one of the coolest logos in sports, but I'm a bit biased. It's really cool seeing one so similar on a military jet.

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greenminer Grand Master

greenminer

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1 hour ago, UNT Alumni Lifer said:

I believe it's one of the coolest logos in sports, but I'm a bit biased. 

IMO, our moniker and logo makes us one of the most unique brands in all of sports.  I love them.  Here's hoping one day it is on display on the biggest national stage we can imagine.

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