Ross Ramsey enjoys spending time with fellow alums at Michigan State football tailgates.
These are not just any old former Spartans, though.
They were Sparty himself — something few knew when Ramsey and his pals donned the muscular mascot suit two decades ago.
Photo: AP
“Once you are done being Sparty, you can tell others that you were Sparty,” said Ramsey, a physician and hospital administrator in Pigeon, Michigan. “And clearly you have a close bond with those others who were in the same role as you, because they couldn’t share that experience with anyone else at the time, either.”
Ramsey and his buddies are members of an elite fellowship of ex-mascots. Men and women who once carried on as Big Al, Alabama’s lovable elephant; the Disney-inspired Oregon Duck; Wisconsin’s Bucky Badger and many more.
We are talking humans in suits, not live animal mascots, which also are fixtures on college football Saturdays.
Photo: AFP
The job for costumed mascots is to fire up the crowd, bring a smile to a fan’s face and symbolically represent the university.
“When you think of Michigan State, you think of Sparty. And everybody knows what the mascot is,” said Phil Lator, another former Sparty who joins Ramsey at the tailgates and also successfully concealed his alter ego during his tenure in East Lansing.
Anonymity is the name of the game for many college mascots.
Photo: AP
“Some programs value secrecy so highly that multiple performers report to the stadium, but only learn in the moment who will actually be suiting up,” said Jeff Birdsell, a communications professor at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.
Birdsell has experience in these matters, having served as Point Loma’s mascot as an undergrad, as well as inhabiting suits for minor-league baseball, NBA G League and indoor soccer teams.
“Some schools have traditions where they work hard to keep the performers anonymous so that there can be a big reveal as part of graduation ceremonies,” he said.
Enter Nicole Hurley, who came clean about her Cocky past at South Carolina’s spring commencement, rolling into the arena wearing her cap, gown and oversized yellow bird feet of the bird mascot.
“When I walked across the stage, I felt so much joy. The whole arena started to clap and cheer, and it made me emotional,” said Hurley, a pediatric hematology oncology nurse in Charleston, South Carolina.
Only Hurley’s roommates and parents knew about her second life, which included attending weddings, birthday parties, baby showers and other private events; firing up the crowd at Williams-Brice Stadium and rushing the floor after a 2023 men’s basketball victory at Kentucky.
“There were countless moments that I had to change into my suit in my car, pretty much lie to every person about how I worked a job in athletics and created excuses when I was not free on the weekends due to working private events,” Hurley said. “When people I know would come up to take a photo with me when I was Cocky and they had no idea I was the one under the suit was the craziest feeling.”
Carlos Polanco-Zaccardi, whose years inside Miami’s Sebastian the Ibis costume were known only to a select few, also became proficient at hiding his true identity.
Polanco-Zaccardi, who graduated from the “U” this year, toted his bird get-up around campus in an enormous duffel bag.
When confronted, he would supply a white lie depending on the questioner.
“For my friends, I told them that I was one of the party performers on stilts that perform at weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties,” he said.
Like the Michigan State guys, Hurley and Polanco-Zaccardi, costumed performers at the collegiate level almost always are students, Birdsell said.
“How they get the gig has a range of origin stories,” he said. “I, for example, got my start at a smaller school after developing a reputation as a loudmouthed superfan.”
That intense school pride does not go away for many ex-mascots, long after they have stopped wearing the fur.
Just ask Scott Ferry, another Sparty alum and tailgate regular whose passion for the green-and-white has not ebbed.
“The spirit of the university is critical,” said Ferry, who these days owns and operates a farm and meat-processing facility an hour south of campus. “We don’t want to just be an individual. We want to be the icon of the university at all times.”
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
Workers are hammering, cranes are swinging and seats are being bolted into place — but the clock is ticking. Mexico City’s famous Azteca stadium, reborn as Estadio Banorte, is in a frantic race to be ready for its grand reopening on Saturday. Drone footage showed crews installing seats and attaching the new stadium name to the facade, with cranes looming overhead 48 hours before the gates are due to open for a high-profile friendly between Mexico and Portugal. For residents, the breakneck pace of construction has done little to inspire confidence. “I know they are working practically seven days a week, 24 hours
RSS