Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2019

48 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.ReadMPM.com feature BY ANDY SOLOMON College MASCOTS T hey are the embodiment of a university’s ultimate ambassador. They pose for an infinite number of photos at parades, pep rallies and tailgates; appear at check-passing and groundbreaking ceremonies; and, of course, attend all of the athletic contests. These devoted student diplomats are popular for loyalty sake yet successful because they communicate only by gestures. There’s positively no talking. Not all colleges can have live mascots, though the University of South Carolina showcases live gamecock Sir Big Spur, and The Citadel has paraded a lineage of live bulldogs on its football sidelines. But almost every college today has a Muppet-like costumed student dressed, such as USC’s “Cocky,” Clemson’s “Tiger,” The Citadel’s “Spike,” and Charleston Southern’s “Bucky the Buccaneer.” The mascot craze soared in 1974 with the San Diego Chicken (a.k.a., “The Famous Chicken”). San Diego State University student Ted Giannoulas donned a chicken suit in an animated TV commercial for KGB Radio and then entertained the crowd at more than 520 San Diego Padres baseball games, where he and his antics connected with fans and became a smash to the point that “The Chicken” was named one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Sports for the 20th Century by The Sporting News . Mascots now have their own Mascot Hall of Fame that opened in 2018 near Chicago (in Whiting, Indiana), by David Raymond, who acted as the Phillie Phanatic from 1978-93 and is the son of the University of Delaware’s legendary football coach Tubby Raymond. Here’s a look at four of the state’s football-playing school’s mascots while recalling what one student in the costume stated, “It’s strange to have the power to make people happy just by walking into a room. I love that I can make someone smile just by being there.” They Have School Spirit Covered — Head to Toe