Prancing around MSU sports games, spending quality time with the community or just hanging out at the library, Sparty is everywhere.

And the Mascot Hall of Fame may be the next place he'll be hanging out. The MSU Student Alumni Foundation, or SAF, sent in a nomination application Friday for Sparty to join the exclusive club as part of the 2006 hall of fame class.

"We feel Sparty is the best college mascot in the nation," said Philip Lator, co-director for the Sparty Program within SAF. "(Sparty) has won the national championship with the (Universal Cheer Association) so we feel he deserves a spot in the hall of fame."

The Web-based Mascot Hall of Fame, which was started in 2005, opened its selection process to collegiate mascots this year and is expecting between 30 and 40 college mascots to apply, said Christopher Bruce, vice chairperson of the Executive Committee for the hall of fame.

"As we developed and evolved, we always knew we wanted to include collegiate mascots and eventually, down the road, corporate mascots," Bruce said. "At this point we have it set up so that a total of six mascots can be put on the ballot in both the professional and collegiate categories. Any one of those characters can make it in — it just deals with the vote requirement and getting through the first round."

Once all of the applications are in, the Executive Committee, which is comprised of professional performers, team owners, collegiate representatives and others, meets to review the nominees and vote for who they think should be on the ballot.

A group of voting members, which includes people who donate to the Mascot Hall of Fame, performers, mascot program coordinators and others, vote on the ballot to officially choose the mascots that will be inducted into this year's hall of fame, Bruce said.

Last year, 50 mascots gathered in Newark, Del., for the induction ceremony to honor the first inaugural class, which included the Phoenix Gorilla, The Famous Chicken from San Diego and the Phillie Phanatic. The 2006 induction ceremony will be held Aug. 15 in Philadelphia.

SAF put together a three-minute video to go along with the application for Sparty, which included footage of him interacting with crowds at sports games, campus pep rallies and getting involved with the community while participating in cancer walks and fundraisers, Lator said.

"He is great and has a great personality; he's charming," Lator said. "He's kind of a step above where a lot of mascots are."

Since his unveiling on Sept. 16, 1989 at Spartan Stadium, Sparty has had numerous accomplishments. He won the "Buffest Mascot in the Nation" from Muscle and Fitness magazine in 1998, 2002 and 2004 and was the national champion in 2004 and 2005 in the Universal Cheer Association Nationals Competition.

The Mascot Hall of Fame hopes to create a Web-based poll for fans to submit their votes, along with a blog so the executive committee can get comments from the public.

"We want to hear from all of those MSU fans about how great Sparty is," Bruce said.