For many alumni, the Aztec warrior stood as the longtime unofficial mascot of San Diego State University. In 2021, however, the SDSU senate, along with the authority of President Adela de la Torre, moved to retire the warrior.
Despite the decision, a local nonprofit, the Aztec Warrior Foundation — founded in 2002 by SDSU alumni — has continued supporting “Monty Montezuma,” a warrior character portrayed at football and basketball games. The foundation is built on educating, interacting with and demonstrating inclusivity for Indigenous communities.
But that mission statement has been lost in translation, as most current students find this action to be offensive.
“An Aztec isn’t a fictional character; it’s a people group,” an anonymous sophomore student said.
“To have someone walk around our games with no culture, context, or education seems disrespectful to the people he’s meant to represent.”
Carlos Gutierrez is a San Diego real estate broker by day, but by night, he is Monty Montezuma for SDSU’s football and basketball games.
“They love it,” he insists when asked about how fans respond to his appearance in padded shorts with traditional Indigenous patterns and a feathered headdress.
When asked about his reasoning for bringing back the Aztec warrior, Gutierrez said the mascot “resonate[s] with the cultural aspect [of] the Aztec Alumni,” and that “SDSU Aztecs love being ‘warriors.’”
His presence at games serves as encouragement and motivation for athletes during matchups.
Former basketball player for SDSU, John Anderson, who played from 1972 to 1974, said he believes Monty Montezuma “helps the indigenous spirit,” and added that “if the Indigenous [people] are not offended, then [he is] not.”
Another alum, Lamar Barret, class of 1998, said he does not find the character offensive.
“I find it as support for the university,” he said. “It’s inclusive of all cultures.”
Not all students oppose the character. Sophomore Sebastian Simental said he views Monty Montezuma as a form of recognition.
“I feel like it’s a good way to honor these people … this is our school’s way of honoring these people … It’s a good way to show people that this land was once sacred [and Native] land.”
“The way that he comes out during the games, especially me being Mestizo, mixed blood, I feel like it’s a good representation of how my people feel and what this land is from,” Simental continued.
Though some appreciate Monty Montezuma, the university has refused to allow warrior or fear-based representations of Aztec culture, citing concerns from members of the community.
In a 2021 decree, SDSU ruled to “retire the current human representation of an Aztec as the school mascot, as well as retire usage of spears or weapons that connote barbaric representations of the Aztec culture.”
SDSU’s priority is to keep the community informed and educated about Aztec identity in a respectful, non-offensive manner. Furthermore, the decree stated that “the continued use of a human representation of an Aztec obscures and offends the true history and contemporary communities of Indigenous nations in the San Diego region and beyond.”
SDSU does not recognize Monty Montezuma as an official mascot.
The SDSU Native Resource Center declined to comment on its stance on the Aztec warrior.
