Utah State University, founded in 1888, was a result of the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant College Act, which allowed land to be issued to states for the purpose of creating institutions of higher education. Schools developed from the land grant acts were often full of farmers and other local people needed some way to distinguish themselves. From the late 40s and early 50s, Utah State began to make a transition. Football announcers to introduce the school as the Aggies or the Farmers. The first real mascot to grace the cover was an elderly farmer wearing bib overalls and chewing on a hay seed. The farmer’s image lasted for almost a decade until the 60s when Big Blue came along.