News: Leftwich Reflects on Mascot Win

From the Huntsville Item:



April 23, 2010

A Real Character

Leftwich reflects on mascot win

By Mary RainwaterStaff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — While the average Sam Houston State University fan may not know senior Jarrod Leftwich by sight, they do see him more than they realize — as university mascot Sammy Bearkat.

Leftwich, 23, who has played the role of Sammy for five years now, recently made history for the mascot program — winning first place in the National Cheerleading Association’s Mascot Nationals competition in Daytona Beach, Fla. on April 10.

“I first had to send in a video entry to NCA,” Leftwich said. “And of the 16 videos sent in, Sammy was one of 10 mascots in the division chosen to attend nationals.”

Those 10 were joined by four automatic qualifiers from camp, with 14 total mascots competing.

“I competed at nationals, performing a 90-minute skit for judges,” he said. “They named the top five, with Sammy winning first place.”

The victory was bittersweet for Leftwich, he said, having placed second in the previous year when he, and others, felt they should have won in 2009.

“This year was different for us, though,” he said. “We went into it with total confidence, even praying beforehand, and we came out victorious.

This was a history making year for Sammy — the first year for the SHSU mascot to win first place at the NCA Championship.

“It is just now starting to become real for me,” Leftwich said. “I have been waiting five years for this.

“I just can’t completely describe how I feel about it,” he added. “I am proud of the team and of myself for what we have done — bringing the program from the bottom to the top, and now being known nationally as well as locally and statewide.”

Leftwich takes his role as Sammy very seriously, calling it his own unique outlet for expressing how he feels about SHSU.

“I am proud to represent my university in this way,” he said. “I love everything about Sam Houston State University.

“It is a great way to express how I feel, by winning a national championship for the university.”

Leftwich is in his second year as mascot captain, leading a team of five SHSU mascots who attend SHSU sporting events and make special appearances in the community.

“I have really enjoyed participating at games,” Leftwich said. “Sammy plays a huge role in the university — he is an icon.

“What we do has a big influence on other people,” he added. “It is our goal to get all the fans going.”

One of the highlights of Leftwich’s career as Sammy occurred earlier this year, when the Bearkats played Stephen F. Austin University during the Southland Conference basketball tournament.

“It was the first time I was ever able to get the entire crowd to stand up and do what I wanted,” he said. “That is always a mascot’s goal, and for me, it was the second proudest moment as Sammy.

“My entire senior year has been a dream,” he added. “I have enjoyed seeing a lot of people — doing birthday appearances, being at games — and the kids love Sammy, they all know who he is.”

Leftwich’s first role as a mascot was as a student at Linden Killdare High School, where he spent four years as “Tony the Tiger.”

“Ever since I was in sixth grade, I wanted to be a mascot,” he said. “When my freshman year came around, I talked to the coach about being mascot, and she asked why I hadn’t come to her sooner.

“I started as the high school mascot at the third football game of the season, a home game,” he added. “I have been doing it ever since.”

When looking a colleges, Leftwich tried out for mascot at both SHSU and at the University of North Texas in Denton.

“I made mascot at both universities,” he said. “But I liked Sam Houston a lot more. They have a more notable program and I got along with the people more.”

According to Leftwich, a lot is demanded of Sammy, both physically and mentally, with requirements most people don’t think of when they see him on the field.

“Whatever the temperature is outside, it is 40 degrees hotter inside the costume,” Leftwich said. “I require my team members to get a drink of water every 15 minutes.

“You have to be very energetic to do what the team does,” he said. “You have to be creative, always thinking about what your next move might be — you have to always be on your toes.”

Sammy has a personality all his own, from the way he walks to how he expresses emotion, Leftwich said.

“Sammy’s character is stern, and flirtatious with the ladies,” he said. “He likes shining bald men’s heads.

“To be a good Sammy, you have to be outgoing and friendly and you have got to have 100 percent confidence,” he said. “Of course, you also need a good sense of humor.”

The few that know of Leftwich’s dual personalities are sometimes surprised that he is Sammy — but for him that is exactly what being a mascot is about.

“As a mascot, you are portraying another character, not yourself,” he said. “That is what makes it so fun.”

Leftwich will be graduating from SHSU this May with a degree in criminal justice.

He hopes to pursue being a mascot after graduation, and is planning to try out for the role as mascot of the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams.

“If that doesn’t work out, I will continue to look out for other mascot jobs while pursuing a job as a paralegal, or maybe go on to law school,” Leftwich said.

News: Homecoming Parade

From the Huntsville Item:



Walker County residents lined Sam Houston Avenue Thursday night for the annual Sam Houston State University Homecoming Parade. Fraternities and organizations across campus celebrated the 50th birthday of Sammy the Bearkat with floats that included giant birthday cakes, balloons and noisemakers.The Department of Student Activities will give away free food and prizes to those in school colors today at 10 a.m. in the LSC Mall Area. Other various activities include the “Golden Circle Reunion” in the LSC Ballroom at 11 a.m. and the “50 Years of Sammy” Reception in the LSC Atrium at 1 p.m. The “Distinguished Alumni Gala” will be held in the LSC Ballroom, with a reception at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m., hosted by the office of Alumni Relations. The Bearkats will host the Nicholls State Colonels at Bowers Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Matthew Jackson /

News: Happy Birthday, Sammy

From the Huntsville Item:

Happy Birthday, Sammy

The Lowman Student Center Atrium at Sam Houston State University was bustling with excitement on Friday for the Sammy Reception.

Poster-size photos of Sammy the Bearkat lined the atrium, guiding viewers through a historic walk of the famous SHSU mascot, celebrating 50 years this year. In the photographs, those attending could see and celebrate how Sammy has changed throughout the years.

Students stopped by in between classes alumni smiled as they looked at the familiar photos. The real treat of the reception was the presence of current and former individuals who have played the role of Sammy.

“It was one of the best experiences of my life,” James Pharaon said.

Pharaon embodied Sammy from 1995 through 1998. Beginning as a cheerleader at SHSU, he found his way into a try-out for Sammy, completely transforming his college experience as he won the position.

“I was the one in the dog suit for a year and a half,” he said. “During a football game, it started raining and the suit practically disintegrated while I was wearing it as it was made of a paper mache material. It was then we knew it was time for a change.”

From this experience, Pharaon went on to create the look Bearkats know today.

“The process began in 1996. We went through hundreds of ideas and took it to the head of the school,” he said. “I personally wanted Sammy to have an aggressive look, but we ended with a friendly version. It took several months and then we unveiled the new design on Jan. 30, 1997.”

Pharaon went on to become a graphic designer and production coordinator for Germania Insurance in Brenham.

Mark Barry and Pharaon worked together as graphic designers in student activities, encouraging each other to become more creative and at times, mischievous. Barry stepped into the Sammy suit in 1998 and stayed in the position until 1999.

“It was a blast. It was like I had a VIP pass to get away with anything,” Barry said.

“I’ll never forget the time I went to the National Mascot Championship at Disney Land. I ended up in fifth or sixth place, but the judges told me I could have had first if my performance had just been a little more family-friendly,” Barry remembered.

Coming from California to attend the reception, Patrick Gardenier played the part of Sammy from September of 2000 until April of 2006.

“It was a life-changing experience,” Gardenier said. “I came for school, but stuck around to be involved on campus. When I tried out to be Sammy, my mom didn’t think I could do it without my grades suffering.

“However, becoming involved with the student activities and going to hundreds of events each year, really helped me learn how to prioritize and multi-task. My grades got much better and I made the dean’s list seven or eight times.”

Trent Coots also played the role of Sammy and became good friends with Gardenier. After viewing an ad in the school paper, he tried out to be Sammy. Coots advised current and future mascots to keep up the tradition.

“There’s great history behind the character of Sammy and the school, yet there’s always new ways to present it,” he said. “Be creative and have lots of fun.”

Coots and Gardenier spoke with enthusiasm of their road trips to competitions, seeing snow for the first time and learning to embody a school spirit.

“Most people don’t realize that to be a good mascot, it takes two to three years to connect with the character,” Coots said.

For those attending the reception, it was clear, these men are more than simply mascots, they are good friends who will never forget their experience at SHSU.

“My time at SHSU as Sammy shaped my life,” Coots said. “From there I went on to become the mascot for the Houston Comets. I learned so much from the experience.”

Gardenier works with a minor league baseball team in California and described his time at SHSU as very influential in the course of his career.

“I’ll always be using the skills I learned while I was Sammy,” Gardenier said.

“When I was Sammy, I learned how view events with a creative mindset,” Pharaon said. “Now, in whatever I’m doing, I try to present it in a new way. The experience opened up so many doors for me. I’ll never forget introducing the new suit or proposing to my wife during a halftime performance. “

All of the former Sammy mascots wish the very best to SHSU and desire to encourage others to get involved with the university or community as it is never known what doors may be opened as the result or what skills may be gained by simply putting forth an effort.

Photo caption: Former Bearkat mascots, from left, Patrick Gardenier, Mark Barry, James Pharaon and Brent Coots pose with Sammy the Bearkat during Friday’s Sammy Reception. Sammy celebrates his 50th birthday this year.

Former Sammy PatG Viciously Mauled, Injured by Rabid Gorilla

From the LA Times:

And off they go, eight of the 11 mascots of this plush toy of a baseball team, a mid-inning race across the outfield, a menagerie of madness.

"Outta the way!" the ice cream cup shouts.

"Somebody's going down!" the lobster shouts.

The banana takes the lead, the lobster runs a close second, then here comes the gorilla, waving his arms and bulldozing his buddies.

Down goes the sunglasses-wearing rabbit. Down goes the giant green dog. Down goes the gangling blue sea creature.

The race ends with the gorilla leaping across the left-field line while the sweating, swearing mascot carnage piles up on the field behind him.

"You knocked off my freaking head," the rabbit shouts.

"Dude," the sea creature shouts. "You just ran over me."

But nobody is injured worse than the dog, who is dragged to his feet and pulled gently to the locker room, where he collapses on a folding chair in severe pain.

"I'm hurting, man," he whispers, nodding to his right shoulder. "I'm hurting big time."

The dog's huge green head is removed, the enormous high-top tennis shoes are unlaced, the furry green body is peeled off, and the soaked man inside is driven to a nearby hospital where he is diagnosed with a broken collarbone.

"We go all out here," Pat Gardenier says before leaving. "This is the price you pay."

His fellow creatures nod their cumbersome heads and shake their elongated snouts in resilience and remorse.

Except for the offensive ape, who can be found happily break dancing behind the plate.

"I feel terrible about what happened, but what am I supposed to do?" Robby Gillett says. "I'm a gorilla."

Welcome to a veritable Baseball Country Jamboree, the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm, the mascot capital of the sports world, a place where the characters are complex but the motto is simple.

"When our fans leave here, most of them don't remember the final score," says Allan Benavides, assistant general manager. "But they all remember the fun."

The mascots indeed go all out here, far out, way out, and the return is truly priceless.

A summer evening at this charming Riverside County field known as the Diamond is like a walk through a motley, magical park.

Between every inning, it seems, a different type of creature runs on to the field to run, jump, dance or just hit someone. Sometimes they toy with fans, other times they taunt opposing team, often they just spend the 90 seconds humiliating each other.

At various points on this weekday night in a game against the Stockton Ports, the field was filled with male strippers, thuggish cats, a monkey pounding players with pool noodles, and a cardboard robot who so furiously danced, his duct-taped head fell off.

And, of course, there was that strange, scary race.

"Sometimes we wonder if anybody is even watching the actual game," Gillett says.

Virtually every minor league team in baseball employs characters like this. What makes Lake Elsinore unique is the scope of their zoo.

They have 11 mascots, more than the number of players in their team's lineup.

They have an actual director of mascot operations, a college graduate with a budget and a mandate.

They have a real locker room for the mascots, complete with air conditioning and closet space.

They even employ mascots to perform normal club duties while in uniform, having them serve as both mascot and stadium worker at the same time.

Thus, the rabbit scoreboard operator.

I am not making this up.

Every game at the Diamond, a kid sits on a rickety lawn chair behind the scoreboard, behind a tarp, working the numbers while wearing a rabbit costume.

When Lake Elsinore scores, Jackpot the Rabbit throws on his head, runs through a door and dances in the outfield until the celebration music ends, then returns to change the runs and hits.

"When I tell my friends what I do, they laugh," Robert Cervantes says. "I guess I can't blame them."

But the last laugh belongs to the Storm fans, particularly the children, who fill the stands each night to cheer their favorite athletes, er, animals.

"Because we have different players every year, nobody knows the name of number 21," Benavides says. "But ask any kid, any year, and he knows the name of all the mascots."

Beginning with Thunder, the leader of the Lake Elsinore mascots, the giant green dog who is clearly the most popular person in the organization.

He growls, he barks, he giggles, he even breaks wind, for which the human inside will not apologize.

The first universal rule of all mascots is that they never speak, but the Lake Elsinore folks believe there are important exceptions.

"We all understand that kids love [flatulent] sounds," says Gardenier, the team's director of mascot operations who doubles as Thunder.

When Gardenier broke his collarbone last week in the mid-fourth inning mascot race, it possibly sidelined him for the rest of the season and ended the most fun part of his job.

Earlier in the evening, Thunder was so swarmed by fans during a walk through the stands, less than half the crowd was even watching the game.

"My three kids are more interested in him than the players," says Monica Sandberg, who followed her young children as they danced by Thunder's side. "He's silly, and kids love silly."

When Thunder disappeared after the race, there was unrest in the stands until it was announced that he had been injured. Leaving no subtlety unturned, the Lake Elsinore folks then played a video montage of Thunder accompanied by the sort of sentimental music that made you think he was dead.

Of course, this only set up the cheers for the next night, when Thunder made a triumphant return while being played by another employee.

"We're entertainers, and isn't sports all about entertainment?" says Gillett, who plays several characters.

Sports is also about the luck, which is pretty much how Lake Elsinore came to acquire all these mascots in the first place.

Last year, a local costume shop went out of business and offered costumes for $50 apiece. Thus, the Lobster, the June Cat and the Grounds Crew Gorilla were born.

Jackpot the Rabbit was a costume left behind by a former sponsor.

Scoop is a human ice cream cup given to them by an ice cream store.

Hamlet, the light blue sea creature, is an old Storm mascot that is supposed to be some sort of dragon from the nearby lake.

"The Loch Ness monster of Lake Elsinore?" Gardenier says. "Works for me."

The banana was purchased this year as a dance partner for -- surprise -- the Gorilla.

Then there is the Robot, which was something that Gillett built this year for '80s Night. Great idea, but not very practical, as he learned earlier when he lost his head.

Then there is Rally Cop and Party Boy, two truly human mascots who race on to the field at odd times and act racy.

Rally Cop, who is Gillett dressed like an officer, runs out in the ninth inning of a close game and throws foam baseballs inscribed with insults into the opposing team's dugout.

Party Boy is an intern who runs out and does a male strip tease whenever the skit requires that one of the mascots be distracted.

Various employees play the characters, with the only requirement being that they must be willing to go through several shirts and lose several pounds each night in the 100-degree heat.

"You drink a lot of water," Gardenier says. "And you hope the kids don't hit you where it hurts."

The most appreciative kids are Storm players, who howl nightly at the antics.

"Face it, baseball can be boring; we love our mascots," says Jeremy Hefner, the Storm's pitching ace. "It's the other teams that get bothered."

On this summer evening, the other team doesn't seem bothered, plays hard, Lake Elsinore and Stockton battling pitch for pitch until the very end, when the game reaches its climax.

This occurs, of course, when Jackpot the Rabbit finishes his scoreboard work and walks across the field to return to the locker room.

Kids line the railings to wave and scream and ask for his autograph. He stops for every child, poses for every photo, and by the time he drags his overheated, exhausted body into the tunnel, the stadium is empty, leaving many with only one unanswered question.

Who won?

Who cares?



For those that don't know, former Sammy PatG is the mascot Thunder for the Lake Elsinore Storm baseball team. Hate to hear that you were injured, Pat. Hope you're recovered. See you in a few weeks.

Thanks to Sammy's pal KidSimba for passing the article along.