UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, April 1, 1993
9
Mascots are rare birds
Back row, from left to right, Armen Kurdian, Wichita senior, Amy Hunerberg, Mission Hills senior, and Tracie Lansing, Leavenworth sophomore, and in the front row Marnie Dodson, Amarillo, Texas, junior and Greg Hansen, Minneapolis sophomore, huddle around the mascot. They are five of the eight people who wear the Jayhawk costumes.
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don't even want to touch the Jayhawk because the fur is so hot.
ransen agreed that the temperature inside the costume could wear out even the toughest antiperspirant.
"Sometimes it gets pretty bad because we only wash the costumes about once a year," he says. "You don't want to be the person who has to put on the suit for the second half of a football game when it is 80 degrees out."
on the other hand, the extra padding can be an asset on a cold day.
"At the Nebraska game it was great because it was freezing and raining, and there I was with shorts on, all nice and cozy," Hansen savs.
Things certainly look different from inside the costumes. The costumes have eye holes in the sides of the head and out of the beak. This means mascots can only see above or below, but not straight ahead.
"It's a completely different view from inside." Hunerberg says. "I've gone home at times and I can't remember any of the plays."
Hansen says some of the clumsiness isn't part of the act. It's dark inside the head, and sometimes the mascots are flying blind.
"If you see us running into things, don't laugh because we can't help it." Hansen says. "I've run into kids, cameraman, everything."
And sometimes people run into the mascots. Kurdian remembers a football game at K State when he was standing on the sidelines.
"I looked up and there was this sea of purple," he says. "I got completely plowed over." Dodson was tackled by an Iowa State football player.
"I was just standing on the sideline looking the other way, and he just ran right into me," she says. "The Jayhawk getting plowed over — it made the highlight film that night."
Although no specific skill is required to become a mascot, a few of the students are gymnasts. Lansing said tumbling in the bulky costumes was the most difficult aspect of being a mascot.
"You just can't see," she says. "It's also very embarrassing when your head falls off, like it did to me a couple of weeks ago."
odson says being a mascot is really special because she gets to be more than just a fan in the crowd.
"The children are great, their faces just light up when they see you," she said. "They don't really want to talk to you, they just want to meet the Jayhawk."
As they come into the stadium, the mascots are surrounded by children wanting a photo or a hug, and the Jayhawks are always happy to oblige. They make their way to center court, waving and dancing, as the crowd cheers.
Kurdian, who graduates this year, says he is sorry to see his days as a mascot come to an end.
"It still hasn't struc me that I done." Kurdian says. "I only wish I'd tried out sooner.
"I'll still be here next year as a graduate student, and so I may put it on when no one is using it to satisfy my own compulsive urges.
Katie Stader, 1991 graduate of KU and former Baby Jay, says she still misses being the KU mascot, although she has gone on to be Chilly Chipmunk, a Kansas City Blades mascot.
"it's weird to go to a game now and not be out there," she says. "You wish you were doing it, and you find yourself critiquing the other mascots.
"I'm still kind of selfish because it's hard to go back and not be such an integral part of the University," she says.
Tracee Hamilton, 1983 graduate and former Baby Jay, became a mascot because of her interest in sports. She is now the executive sports editor at the Wilmington News Journal in Wilmington, Del. She says that she enjoyed the experience, but that it was different from Stader's.
I have a lot of respect for the people who do it," she says. "I wouldn't do it again, but I'm not sorry I had the experience."
Stader says her days as a mascot were memorable.
"There's nothing like being the Jayhawk at KU."
"It's such a rush doing the 'Rock Chalk Chant' and participating in all the tradition," she says.
Irene Lanier / KANSAN
Baby Jay stands with 6-year-old Shane Minkley of Lawrence, left, and 7-year-old Sylvester Birdsond of Lawrence during the national anthem before the women's NCAA tournament basketball game against California at Allen Field House.
Irene Lanier / KANSAN
Big Jay, Tracie Lansing, Leavenworth sophomore, and the KU spirit squad electrolyze the crowd during a women's basketball game in Allen Field House.
Irene Lanier/ KANSAN
Tracie Lansing, Leavenworth sophomore, prepares for the game in the hallway outside the locker room at Allen Field House.