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2B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
HOMECOMING
FRIDAY,OCT.12,2001
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES PHOTO
The Big Jay mascot welcomed his new friend, Baby Jay, during halftime of the 1971 homecoming game.
Baby Jays reunite to celebrate 30 years of Rock Chalk spirit
By Adam Stein Kansan correspondent
Amy Hurst Rachman will be in town for homecoming weekend to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a KU tradition she started. Rachman is the original Baby lay.
With help from the KU Alumni Association, Rachman has managed to locate 30 former mascots who will come to Lawrence for a homecoming weekend reunion. Although many former KU students have been mascots, Rachman hopes this weekend will be the first of annual mascot reunions.
Rachman, a KU alumna who lives in North Carolina, came to KU as a freshman in 1971. She knew she wanted to be a Jayhawk when she came to a family reunion in Lawrence while still in high school. She was a huge fan of athletics, and had been a cheerleader in high school. She knew she wanted to continue being a standout supporter of athletics in college. That's where the Baby Jay idea came in.
"There was just something about that bird," Rachman said. "I saw the baby Jayhawks walking
behind the big one, and I knew there had to be a Baby Jay mascot."
Rachman worked as a waitress her freshman year and her manager at the time, Eldon Puett, was a Jayhawk mascot. Puett encouraged her to pitch her idea for a Baby Jay mascot to the Alumni Association. She took his advice and was eventually given permission to be the original Baby Jay. The only condition was that she create the costume.
Rachman, with the help of family, came up with the original costume from chicken wire, fiberglass and fabric. The finished product weighed a little less than eighty pounds. Baby Jay was introduced at halftime of the 1971 homecoming game.
home coming game
The Phi Kappa Theta fraternity constructed a float with a giant egg for Baby Jay to "hatch" from. Baby Jay came into the world on Oct. 10, 1971. And the rest, as they say, is history.
If you are a former KU mascot and would like more information on the reunion, please contact Amy Hurst Rachman at AmyRachman@Charter.net.
Being mascot not all fun and games
Contact Stein at 864-4810
Wearing bird suits requires time, heart for these Jayhawks
By Louise Stauffer
Kansan correspondent
Huddled in a room upstairs in Allen Fieldhouse, nine mascots begin practice on a Tuesday night. The mood is playful, and the group evokes a feeling of camaraderie.
"Just to let you guys know, I got a girl's number in full suit at the last game," said Chris Veit, Overland Park sophomore.
There are nine mascots, four men and five women. The ages, lifestyles and personalities vary, but the common interest of entertainment is what brings them together.
Jerry Pauly, Denton senior, and Veit, decided to try out to be mascots because their pledge father at Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity had been one.
Eva Davis, Topeka first-year nursing student, is beginning her second year as the mascot coach. Davis has a mascot three years before turning to coaching. She is responsible for taking care of everything for the mascots: scheduling appearances, caring for costumes, raising money, getting everyone to camp and planning practices.
Davis said October would be busy for the mascots. Mascot appearances include games, parades, cocktail parties and private events.
Part of a mascot practice is deciding who is going to work at which event.
Laura Rupe, Wichita junior, said she liked to be the first one of the day to wear the suit.
"That way the suit isn't sweaty," Rupe said.
She said she didn't mind sharing a suit with fellow mascot Jessica Butler, Albuquerque, N.M., junior. "We shared one all last year. I'm used to mixing my sweat with hers," Rupe said.
The mascots have two "new bird" suits that are called the priority birds. The priority birds are used for big games and appearances where lots of people are going to see them. The squad uses the two older suits for events when the new birds are in use.
"We use really old suits from the 1970s and the '80s to practice in," Davis said. She said that the average lifespan of a suit was five years.
"We have to get new ones because they smell, and they get a lot of wear and tear," she said.
The suits don't come cheap. Davis said two new Big Jay suits, which are needed, would cost about $12,000.
OLIVIA SARI/KANSAN
Money for suits comes through the Spirit Fund, which is also used by the Crimson Girls and the cheerleaders, or through fund-raising that the mascots do on their own.
Hiring themselves out for private events is something that the mascots do to raise money. KU graduates have hired the mascots to appear at weddings, which cost them $100.Eighty dollars of that goes toward the University, and the squad member keeps the remaining $20.
Wearing a suit can take some getting used to. Pauly said that the head of BigJay weighed about 12 pounds, and the rest of the suit can vary.
"It can weigh between 30 to 35 pounds,depending on how wet it is," Pauly said. It is also extremely hot inside the suits.
Fellow mascots goof around at the end of practice, hauling up Chris Veit, Overland Park sophomore, in the Big Jay suit while he grasps the rim at Allen Fieldhouse. The mascot roster for this year consists of four men and five women, which is a number that has grown during the past few years.
"It feels like the devil in there," Veit said.
The only problem the mascots seemed to have with walking in the suits was down small stairs.
"The small stairs are hard, but if you fall, it's not a big deal," Rupe said.
There are dangers other than falling that the mascots risk at every event's performance.
Each time a mascot has an appearance, a squad member out of suit goes along as a bodyguard. The bodyguard looks out for the mascot to protect it from abuse.
museo
Squad members said they had been clotheslined, punched, pushed around and had their suit ripped at appearances. Pauly remembers having the head of his suit ripened off at a Texas A&M game.
It takes a lot more than learning how to walk in a suit to be a mascot. The tryouts last three days. On the first day, tryout hopefuls run for 20 minutes to show that they have stamina for the job. A grade check, with 2.0 cumulative minimum, is also done. Each mascot must be a full-time student. They are also taught the fight song. On the second day, each person appears in front of the judges in the mascot suit by themselves.
They are required to perform activities such as a skit that they made up the day before, and to do some improv. On the third day of tryouts, the judges conduct personal interviews. The number of students that try out varies each year.
"When KU won tournaments, we had a large turnout at tryouts," Davis said. "But we're growing, we've gone from three people to five people to nine people on the team in the past three years."
Mascots also get to go to summer camp. Every camp, the mascots go to mascot camp for a
week, where they "act like a bunch of kindergartners," Butler said. Last summer, the camp lasted a week and took place in Milwaukee, Wis. The camp is called Mascot Mania, and is sponsored by the Universal Cheer Association. Pauly said that it was probably the largest mascot camp in the world.
"The main focus of camp is getting time in suit," Pauly said. "Without an audience, you can experiment stuff without the pressure. Basically, we get to talk shop for a whole week."
Pauly said that at the camp the mascots can experiment with impromptu things that they would like to try when they perform. He said a couple of years ago, the camp went and performed for kids at a day care to try out some new things.
"I have a trick that I stole from camp, where I grab a kids hat and pretend like I'm going to throw it." Paulv said.
Davis said that another big
part of camp was getting crijqued.
"A big part of camp is learning what works for other mascots, what they do." Davis said. "You also get the chance to have someone from another school to critique you."
Friendships and more have sometimes developed between the members of the mascot squad. Former Big Jay Josh Cox is married to a former Baby Jay, Kerri Cox.
"Eva and I went to their wedding and were in suit for a little while." Pauly said.
However, Josh Cox, who Pauly said was the epitome of KU spirit, and Kerri were never on the squad at the same time.
Rupe said that many people have the misconception that all squad members are former cheerleaders.
"At some schools, it's the old cheerleaders, or the ones who didn't make the squad in college that are the mascots," she said. "That's not us — we want to be mascots."
Contact Stauffer at 864-4810