San Diego State Aztecs Logo PNG
For the San Diego State Aztecs, the logo is a monogram of the letters “S” and “D,” representing the university’s hometown. The arrow depicted is a symbol of the Indian people, after whom the sports department was named. At the same time, the emblem is painted in the educational institution’s official colors: scarlet and black.
San Diego State’s athletic history goes back to the university’s early years. The school was founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, became a state college in 1935, and received university status in 1971. Its teams adopted the Aztecs nickname in 1925 after a student vote referring to the pre-Columbian civilization.
Football shaped much of the program’s early reputation under Don Coryell, who coached the Aztecs from 1961 to 1971. His teams won more than 100 games and three Camellia Bowls. At the same time, his vertical passing system later influenced the NFL as “Air Coryell.” Another major name was Marshall Faulk, who played for SDSU from 1991 to 1993 before becoming the No. 2 pick in the 1994 NFL Draft and winning a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams.
SDSU also produced baseball icon Tony Gwynn, who played both baseball and basketball for the Aztecs. In 1981, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres in MLB and the San Diego Clippers in the NBA, then chose baseball. In 1999, SDSU helped found the Mountain West Conference, where rivalries with UNLV and Fresno State became central, particularly in basketball.
The basketball program rose under Steve Fisher, hired in 1999. In 2011, the Aztecs reached the national top five with Kawhi Leonard on the roster, before he entered the NBA Draft. In 2023, SDSU reached the NCAA Final Four for the first time. In 2022, Snapdragon Stadium opened as the football team’s new home, while some SDSU teams competed outside the main league structure, including in the Pac-12.
Meaning and History
The San Diego State University sports teams are called the Aztecs. This nickname has been used since 1925. It represents the athletes as brave and warlike because the Aztecs were an Indian people who built a powerful empire and resisted the Spanish invaders for a long time.
Human rights activists demanded that SDSU abandon the name associated with the indigenous population of America, but they did not succeed. All they have achieved is that the school no longer uses the Aztec warrior as its talisman; he is now considered simply a “spiritual leader.” But the spear from the logo has remained. It still complements the red and black “SD” monogram representing the university’s athletes for decades.
What is San Diego State Aztecs?
San Diego State Aztecs are sports teams made up of students from San Diego State University. They represent the institution in intercollegiate competitions in football, lacrosse, golf, basketball, water polo, volleyball, track and field, tennis, diving, softball, baseball, and other sports.
1961 – 1982
One of the first San Diego State Aztecs logos contained the head of an Aztec warrior in a cartoon style. She was depicted half-turned, her face furrowed and her lips pursed. The artists used light brown for the skin, black for the contours and hair, and white and dark red for the headdress.
1982 – 1997
This emblem of sports teams looked like a petroglyph, that is, a rock drawing painted with paint. The designers created an abstract portrait of an Aztec consisting of dark red geometric shapes with white spaces. The spots outlined the mouth, nose, ear, hair, and a protruding, strong-willed chin. The warrior’s eye was shaped by negative space.
1997 – 2002
In the late 1990s, the San Diego State Aztecs logo featured a masculine profile of a red-skinned Indian. The warrior looked up seriously and confidently. A magnificent crown of red and yellow feathers covered his ear like a helmet on his head. At the bottom was a stylized “AZTECS” written in red letters with a white outline against a black polygon with a yellow outline.
2002 – 2013
In 2002, sports teams began using the first version of the monogram emblem. In the background was a large burgundy “S,” stripped of its usual smoothness and rounded curves. A black “D” was threaded into its free edges, and the long triangular serifs “S” played the role of sides that did not allow the second letter to “fall out.” In the center of the composition, the word “STATE” was written in gold, an obvious reference to San Diego State. The artists stylized the “D” as a bow, depicting the arrow’s protruding ends on both sides. So they tried to tie the logo to the Aztec Indian tribe without using the image of a dark-skinned warrior.
2013 – today
A common symbol unites all SDSU sports teams in the form of intertwined letters “S” and “D.” The red “S” consists of several interconnected rectangles and trapeziums, and its ends are decorated with inward-pointing triangular serifs. A black “D” is threaded through the curving edges of the “S,” which is stylized as a bow with a stretched bowstring. On the left side, a spear shaft sticks out of the “D,” and on the right side, a sharp, jagged tip. This element links the logo to the San Diego State Aztecs name. He personifies the courage, strength, militancy, and power of Mexico’s indigenous population. No wonder the spear is considered an integral part of Aztec culture.
In 2017, the university wanted to change the sports logo to remove any hints of a connection with the Indian people. But it was decided to leave everything as it is, so SDSU Athletics continues to use the version adopted in 2013.
Font and Colors
The main symbol of the SDSU sports department is the Aztec, but the artists did not depict it on the team logo. Instead, they decided to use the attribute of an Indian warrior, an arrow. In this case, it connects with the “D” because it harmoniously integrates into the monogram.
The San Diego State Aztecs logo has only two letters: “S” and “D.” They’re both hand-drawn, with one of them stylized as a bow and arrow, so it’s not a typical block type with sharp serifs, but a custom set of glyphs. The monogram is in the university’s official colors (scarlet and black), with white outlines added.