San Diego State Aztecs Logo PNG
The San Diego State Aztecs logo is a monogram of the letters “S” and “D,” representing the university’s hometown. The arrow symbolizes the Indian people, after whom the sports department was named. The emblem is painted in the 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. His vertical passing system later influenced the NFL and became known as “Air Coryell.” Another major name was Marshall Faulk, who played for SDSU from 1991 to 1993, was the No. 2 pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, and won 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.
Steve Fisher took over the basketball program 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 logo’s spear has remained. It still complements the red-and-black “SD” monogram that has represented the university’s athletes for decades.
What are the San Diego State Aztecs?
The San Diego State Aztecs are the sports teams representing San Diego State University students. 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 featured a cartoon-style head of an Aztec warrior. She was depicted half-turned, with a furrowed brow and pursed lips. 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 sports-team emblem looked like a petroglyph, a rock drawing. The designers created an abstract portrait of an Aztec warrior using dark red geometric shapes and white space. The spots outlined the mouth, nose, ear, hair, and a protruding, strong-willed chin. Negative space shaped the warrior’s eye.
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, serious and confident. A magnificent crown of red and yellow feathers covered his ear like a helmet. At the bottom, stylized “AZTECS” in red letters with a white outline sat against a black polygon with a yellow outline.
2002 – 2013
In 2002, sports teams began using the monogram emblem’s first version. The background featured a large burgundy “S,” stripped of its usual smoothness and rounded curves. A black “D” was threaded into its free edges, and the “S” s long triangular serifs acted as sides that kept the second letter from “fall out.” At the center of the composition, the word “STATE” appears 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: intertwined letters “S” and “D.” The red “S” consists of several interconnected rectangles and trapezoids, 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”; on the right, a sharp, jagged tip. This element links the logo to the San Diego State Aztecs name. It personifies the courage, strength, militancy, and power of Mexico’s indigenous population. No wonder the spear is considered integral to Aztec culture.
In 2017, the university sought to change the sports logo to eliminate any hint of a connection to 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 chose an Indian warrior attribute: an arrow. In this case, it connects to the “D” because it integrates harmoniously into the monogram.
The San Diego State Aztecs logo has only two letters: “S” and “D.” Both are hand-drawn, with one stylized as a bow and arrow, so it uses custom glyphs rather than a typical block type with sharp serifs. The monogram uses the university’s official colors (scarlet and black) and adds white outlines.