Sailor took a swing, came up with a friar
© San Diego Union-Tribune,
September 20, 2004
by Anthony Tarantino
San Diego High graduate Carlos Hadaway was a seaman apprentice in 1961 when a superior told him about a contest being held by the Padres. It seems the Padres were looking for a mascot.
"I wanted to do something with a Padre swinging a bat,"
recalled Hadaway, who had experience drawing a comic strip called "Square
dat Hadaway" for a Navy newspaper called The Hoist.
Next thing you know, the 19-year-old had come up with a few sketches of a brown-robed friar. His chief chose two of them and submitted them to the Padres on his behalf.
While sitting with friends for dinner, Hadaway says, he was informed his drawing would be used as the new team logo.
Hadaway was asked to draw a larger version of his Swinging Friar and presented it to Padres General Manager Eddie Leishman.
Today, Hadaway is a well-known Western artist based in Fountain Hills, Ariz. He said he was paid a nominal fee for his Padres sketches.
"The only disappointment I ever had in my life was that they bought sketches," said Hadaway. "I wanted to do a finished product. But they were happy with the sketches."
All in all, he says, he's proud of having designed the logo.
"(The Swinging Friar) belongs to the fans of San Diego," Hadaway said. "I think it's the neatest emblem for a baseball team. I wasn't in it for the money . . . I've always had a place in my heart for the Padres."
(For additional information about the San Diego Union-Tribune, please visit their web site at www.signonsandiego.com).
Note from Carlos: For information on purchasing the book "Baseball in San Diego:
From the Padres to Petco" by Bill Swank, San Diego's eminent baseball
historian, please click here.
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