"A" Mountain
“A” Mountain is named for the letter “A” that adorns it. The “A” is 60 feet from top to bottom and was built using reinforced steel and concrete in 1955. Each year during Welcome Week, students paint the "A" white to symbolize the fresh start that a new academic year brings. Then it is painted back to gold after the season's first football game.
The Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community considers the Hayden Butte Preserve, the true name of the butte on which the "A" is located, to be a sacred place and a link to its ancestors. It contains approximately 500 petroglyphs, or rock art images, that were made by the Hohokam between A.D. 750 and 1450.
