and Walter Lawrence, developed a character named Lil Alf to be used on their fraternity house's signs during football games. In his original design, Lil Alf was a knight in shining armor, simplified to a small cartoonish form in a 1948 redesign.
Lil Alf was not formally adopted as a campus mascot, with many sports teams complaining that he was "too cute and not fierce enough." The use of his image was formally banned on official publications by the university's Visual Identity Standards document. In spite of opposition, his image remained ubiquitous through the 2000s and was common on unofficial sports signs and clothing.
In 2013 the university introduced Lil Alf as its official mascot. He was redesigned to feature a somewhat more historically accurate armor and helmet in Alfred University's purple and gold.
=== The Black Knight ===
The Black Knight has been a part of Alfred University folklore since the early 1900s. The relic was originally part of a parlor stove in a classroom in Kanakadea Hall. When the …
