The chicken was originally an animated character created for a KGB radio station in San Diego California. Ted Giannoulas was hired to wear the chicken suit in 1979 at a radio pr0motion to hand out Easter eggs to children at the San Diego zoo.

 

At the time, Giannoulas was a 20 year-old journalism student at the University of San Diego, but his antics as the Chicken were so well-received that he flew the college coop and forged the first professional mascot career in the history of mascot careers.

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The Chicken made appearances at more than 520 San Diego Padres games in a row, was a regular at San Diego Clippers' games before the team moved to Los Angeles, and was named one of the 100 most powerful people in sports for the 20th century by The Sporting News.

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The Chicken still makes public appearances all over the country. In 2015 he was reported to have made 5,100 appearances in 917 different facilities, 50 states, eight countries, and wearing out more than 100 chicken suits.

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