On November 4, 1932, Peruna I made his first mascot appearance, appearing at the SMU football game against Texas A&M University. Peruna I was a four-year old, 150-pound pony that was donated by T.E. Jones, the owner of Arlington Downs racetrack. Cy Barcus, a 1929 graduate of Perkins School of Theology and director of the Mustang Band, introduced the black Shetland pony as the mascot and volunteered the name Peruna, which was already the name of the school Fight Song. In the March 22, 1985, edition of "The Daily Campus", Barcus related his story to Linda Beheler: “I was out on a picnic and saw a little black horse running through the high weeds and I said, ‘that would make a good mascot for SMU.’ So I went to coach Ray Morrison and said, ‘Ray, I’ve found a horse that I think would make a good mascot,’ and he told me to bring it to the pep meeting. So I got a popular to bring the pony to the pep rally and from then on it became the official school mascot.” On Halloween 1934, Peruna I escaped from his on-campus living quarters and was struck and killed by an automobile on Mockingbird Lane. The event devastated the SMU community and sent the university into mourning.