Arizona State University
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50 free Arizona State University trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Arizona State University began as a single schoolhouse in Tempe before Arizona was even a state, and it has grown into one of the largest universities in the country. Along the way it picked up a devil for a mascot, a giant letter on a hillside, a landmark auditorium and a stadium that has hosted far more than college football. This quiz covers ASU from every angle: how the school got its name and nickname, campus landmarks and student traditions, Sun Devil football, baseball, basketball, golf and swimming, the famous names who studied in Tempe, and research that reaches from human origins to deep space. It is written for students, alumni and fans, for anyone hosting an ASU trivia night or tailgate, and for curious players who enjoy a good college story. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will finish knowing more about the Sun Devils than when you started.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01ASU's Sparky the Sun Devil was drawn by a former studio illustrator and is rumoured to have whose face?
Walt Disney
Walt Disney had been the boss of Sparky's designer, Berk Anthony, who is said to have slipped his old employer's features into the mascot's face.
Q 02Which visitor's 1987 service for 75,000 at ASU's Sun Devil Stadium had every devil image and nickname covered?
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Tempe during a tour of the United States, so every Sun Devil logo and mention in the stadium was removed or hidden for the day.
Q 03In 2014, which coffee chain began helping its employees finish a bachelor's degree through ASU Online?
Starbucks
Starbucks named the deal its College Achievement Plan, and it covers full tuition for benefits-eligible staff who enrol in any ASU Online undergraduate degree.
Q 04Which architect based ASU's Gammage Auditorium on an opera house he had planned for Baghdad?
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright drew the circular opera house for Iraq's King Faisal II, and after a revolution killed the king the design found a new home in Tempe.
Q 05Which Olympic swimmer burst from ASU's Curtain of Distraction in a Speedo during a 2016 basketball game?
Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps popped out as an Oregon State player shot free throws. ESPN has estimated that the student curtain is worth one to three points a game to ASU.
Q 06Which former president spoke from the steps of ASU's Old Main in 1911 while visiting Arizona to dedicate a dam?
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was the first president ever to visit the campus, and the dam he had come to open still carries his name.
Q 07Which late-night host spent the 1985–86 year at ASU and became a regular caller to a Phoenix radio show?
Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel left ASU without graduating, and by 1989 he had his first paid radio job, co-hosting a Seattle morning show with one of those Phoenix hosts.
Q 08Which ASU linebacker turned down an NFL contract in 2002 to enlist in the Army after the September 11 attacks?
Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004, and ASU retired the number 42 he had worn as a Sun Devil.
Q 09ASU professor Donald Johanson is best known for finding which fossil human ancestor in Ethiopia?
Lucy
Lucy made Johanson famous long before he reached Tempe: he founded the Institute of Human Origins in Berkeley in 1981 and moved it to ASU in 1997.
Q 10ASU graduate Amanda Brown wrote the novel behind which 2001 Reese Witherspoon comedy?
Legally Blonde
Legally Blonde grew out of letters and stories Brown wrote as a Stanford law student after graduating from ASU in 1993. She never finished the law degree.
Q 11Which career home run king played at ASU before the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him in 1985?
Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds only went to college because talks with the Giants broke down over $5,000 when he left high school. He finished at ASU with a criminology degree.
Q 12Which slugger, later nicknamed Mr. October, came to ASU on a football scholarship?
Reggie Jackson
Reggie Jackson soon made his name in baseball instead and went second overall in the draft, behind a 17-year-old catcher the Mets preferred.
Q 13Which NBA scoring champion had his No. 13 jersey retired by ASU after two seasons in Tempe?
James Harden
Q 21What colour do ASU freshmen paint the giant A on Tempe Butte at the start of each school year?
White
White paint goes on during welcome week in a tradition called Echo from the Buttes, and the letter turns gold again before the first football game.
Q 22Which ASU school colour, added alongside gold in 1898, is said to signify sacrifice and bravery?
Maroon
Maroon arrived two years after gold, the school's oldest colour, which stands for a golden promise to students and for Arizona's sunshine.
Q 23What does Sparky the Sun Devil do after every ASU football score, matching the team's point total?
Push-ups
Push-ups even follow the team on the road, where members of the spirit squad support Sparky while he does them.
James Harden was the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009, then went third overall in the NBA draft to Oklahoma City.
Q 14Which golfer won three NCAA individual titles at ASU and a PGA Tour event while still an amateur?
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson took the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson as an ASU student, making him one of the few amateurs ever to win on the PGA Tour.
Q 15Which Spanish golfer was the first to win the Ben Hogan Award twice, both times while at ASU?
Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm also spent a then-record 60 weeks as the world's top-ranked amateur before going on to win the Masters in 2023.
Q 16Which handbag designer earned an ASU journalism degree in 1985 before working at Mademoiselle magazine?
Kate Spade
Kate Spade expected a career in television production, but rose to head of accessories at the magazine before launching bags under her own name.
Q 17Which sportscaster, voice of the 1980 Miracle on Ice, studied radio and television at ASU?
Al Michaels
Al Michaels minored in journalism in Tempe, and he was also at the microphone when an earthquake interrupted the 1989 World Series.
Q 18Which first host of The Tonight Show left the Tempe college that became ASU for a Phoenix radio job?
Steve Allen
Steve Allen left as a sophomore for station KOY, and in 1954 he co-created the first nationwide late-night television talk show.
Q 19Which autism advocate and livestock expert earned a master's degree in animal science at ASU in 1975?
Temple Grandin
Temple Grandin later earned a doctorate in the same field at Illinois, and Claire Danes played her in a 2010 HBO film about her life.
Q 20Which French swimmer trained at ASU before winning four individual gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics?
Léon Marchand
Léon Marchand won NCAA titles for the Sun Devils while studying computer science. Only three swimmers before him had won four individual golds at one Games.
Q 24Which tool gives its name to both ASU's athletics logo and the hand sign fans flash at games?
Pitchfork
Pitchfork is the popular name for what Sparky carries, though the artist who created the mascot actually drew him holding a trident.
Q 25Which nickname did ASU's teams drop when students voted in 1946 to become the Sun Devils?
Bulldogs
Bulldogs lost out by 819 votes to 196 after the student newspaper spent the autumn campaigning for the new name.
Q 26Which trophy, first awarded in 1899, goes to the winner of ASU's football game against rival Arizona?
Territorial Cup
Territorial Cup was made for the 1899 season, before Arizona was a state, and the NCAA has certified it as the oldest rivalry trophy in college football.
Q 27The palms planted along ASU's Palm Walk since 2016 yield which fruit, harvested yearly and sold to the public?
Dates
Dates grow on the Medjool palms that replaced the walk's original Mexican fan palms, which had reached the end of their lives after about a century.
Q 28ASU opened in 1886 as a normal school, a kind of college built to train people for which job?
Teaching
Teaching was the whole mission when 33 students began classes in a four-room schoolhouse, and the school kept Teachers College in its name until 1945.
Q 29By what means did Arizona State College become Arizona State University in 1958?
A statewide vote
A statewide vote, carried two to one, settled the name after two alternatives, Tempe University and State University at Tempe, had also been considered.
Q 30Which student newspaper campaigned through autumn 1946 for ASU's teams to be renamed the Sun Devils?
The State Press
The State Press ran frequent appeals for the change that year, and students then backed the new name by more than four to one.