In 1926, George S. Alderton, sports editor for the Lansing State Journal, and Dale Stafford, sportswriter for the Lansing Capitol News, rejected "The Michigan Staters" as the institution's team name and chose "Spartans," a name submitted by former Michigan State athlete Perry J. Fremont. The Spartan was created by Leonard D. Jungwirth, an American artist and Michigan State University faculty member in the Department of Art from 1940 to 1963, as an original terra cotta sculpture in 1945. A bronze cast from the original was made in 2005 and dedicated on October 8, 2005. A new plaza surrounding the statue was created through gifts of $25,000 or more from associated students, alumni clubs, university organizations, and individual donors.