SFA Lumberjerks

Reading Formersammy09's post about getting speared by a lumberjack (I'd love to read the full story on that one, BTW) jogged my memory on a couple of SFA Lumberjerk experiences of my own:

1995 - On the SFA campus there's a statue of Stephen F. Austin standing proudly with his hands on his hips. It was my first season as Sammy (as well as the chair of the Program Council Spirit and Traditions committee), and I wanted to do something a little bit ... rebellious. So I found a way for the school to pay for orange Kool-aid, streamers and a big red hooker dress with huge falsies on the front out of my mascot prop budget. We bought every packet of orange Kool-aid that Wal-Mart had. It was somewhere around 200 packets. We opened them all and put the orange powder into a big tupperware bowl.

And under the cover of darkness, several of my friends and members of the Sprit and Traditions committee left Huntsville and drove to Nacogdoches. We got there about 10pm and snuck around the campus avoiding security, trying to find their fountain. We finally found the fountain and began dumping the orange Kool-aid into it. We also emptied a bottle of dish soap into it. Some of us "TPed" the trees with the orange streamers while others climbed the statue and put the red hooker dress on the statue of Stephen F.

By the time we left, there were orange bubbles floating everywhere, streamers hanging and Stephen F. Austin, the proudest hooker ever, standing stoically in the center of the fountain, complete with huge fake boobs. I've got a photo in storage somewhere. If I ever dig it up, I'll post it. If the statute of limitations has expired, that is...


1996 - The game was in Nacogdoches this year. I was on the track headed to the field house for a break when out of nowhere a costumed lumberjack mascot ran up behind me and gave me an elbow to the kidney, then ran away. I was down on the ground rolling around in pain and didn't see a thing. Luckily, I was taping for my nationals tape and got to see the whole thing go down on tape later. That's the day I peed blood.

Later the same game... Sam Houston won (to my recollection, anyway) and the SFA fans were TICKED OFF. I was in the Sammy suit walking back to the bus. Unbeknownst to me, there was a group of about ten Sigma Chis from SFA following me. They were just about to make their move and beat the crap out of me when my cheer sponsor's husband saw what was going on and cut them off. He was a big, muscular dude - a Houston police officer - and happened to be a former Sigma Chi himself. So he was able to stop them so I could board the bus. I didn't even find out what had happened until a few minutes later. That was the day I probably cheated death. Whew!

Formersammy09's Sammy memories

Good to see all these great minds in one blog.
A few memories I have of my tenure as that ol bearkat included:

Unicycleing and having the thing break and end up in an uncomfortable place

Mini-biking and having my styish shirt get sucked in the tire behind me and strangling me off the bike

Getting speared by a LARGE SFA lumberjack after kicking him in the butt

Having a mom ask me if I was a guy then giving me a hug and saying "oh yea you are a guy..."

Watching someone outside of the suit on the four-wheeler run over the Eastern Central Oklahoma's head coah with Airkat on front...man that guy could roll

Counltess hours in the paint room practically breathing spray paint then sneezing black.

Parasailing in Daytona with a few USC girls and Sam paid for it

completing a whole competition video then having my computer crash

Doing a punch front at a mens basketball game and having my head fly off in the middle of the court...I landed it by the way. Surprisingly no video was taken of this.

Why The Kat Pack?

Why "The Kat Pack," you might be wondering. Why not "Sammy's Adventureland" or "Old Sammys Rock" or "Sammys Don't Grow Old, They Just Smell That Way?"

Well the name is a play on The Rat Pack, the famous - and completely awesome - group of entertainers from the '50s and '60s that included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.

The image up top is also a bit of a reference to that. It was based on an image from Ocean's 11 (the original one from 1960).

Here's the original photo:



The Kat Pack image is all seven Sammy suits walking down the street in black or gray suits and ties.

I hope you like.

-James

Pushing the envelope of Sammy

Some of my fondest Sammy moments happened out off costume. I was always trying to think of the next stunt to add to Sammy's repertoire. Needless to say things didn't always work out for me.

There was the broken hand that came from me trying to learn a back flip. I was able to still wear the Sammy costume with a cast on my broken hand. I did eventually learn it though, and Sammy did it on several occasions with the help of some cheerleaders. Most of the time I ended on my butt though.

Twelve weeks later I broke my ankle when two of the guy cheerleaders were throwing me from the free throw line at the basketball rim. How else is Sammy gonna dunk! I was wearing the Sammy head and hands during practice. The hands slipped on the rim and my landing was less than graceful. I had to get my first college roomate to fill in as Sammy for four weeks of the basketball season until I was able get a boot on my cast. The day after I could walk again I was back in the Sammy costume. Lucky for me that was the year that the Bearkats made it to the NCAA tournament.

Lets not forget the time I bruised my heel after I landed wrong when our largest guy cheerleader threw me up in the air. I was supposed to do a backflip, I did, but I over rotated and landed right on one of my heels. I figured something was wrong when my heel was all purple and black. That kept me out of Sammy for another four weeks.

I almost lost my job as Sammy the time that I thought it would be a great idea for Sammy to skydive into the stadium for a televised game against #1 Montana. I managed to practice the jump in the Sammy costume down in Houston. Unfortunately, some of the administration didn't like the fact that I made the jump without their consent, more like against their will. Needless to say I was sat down and talked to and Sammy never made the jump into the stadium. SHSU had no problem using the video of Sammy skydiving in their videos. No worries though.

All of it was worth it.