L to R: Mr. Red, Victor E. Viking and The BearcatPhoto: Hailey Bollinger
Detail and character — these are the two principles that have helped University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music alumni Randy Kent build a mascot empire in Cincinnati.
Since founding Stagecraft, Inc. in 1975, Kent, who earned a degree from CCM in costume design and technology, and his wife, Mary, have created and distributed hundreds of mascots for corporations and schools from their Northside headquarters on Spring Grove Avenue.
A look at their website’s character reference sheet reveals the impressive mark he’s made on the craft. (The numbered list has subheads including “birds,” “bears,” “cats,” “dogs,” “prehistoric aquatic,” “human,” “rodents,” “inanimates,” “illusions” and “other.”) Regionally, he’s built the University of Kentucky’s Wildcat costume, the Frisch’s Big Boy and the former University of Cincinnati Bearcat, but it is his early work that marks his biggest contributions to the world of mascots.
His 1970s creations, like the mascot for the now-defunct Cincinnati Stingers hockey club, were inspired by his summer job working on characters in Kings Island’s Hanna-Barbera Land, bringing the cartoon magic of amusement parks to sports.
“(At that time), mascots were not as developed,” Kent says. “So when I started doing mascots, I think one of the things that was an attraction was I was making a full character as opposed to just a jumpsuit and fur.”
Though other designers have made their local mark, Kent’s influence is still felt today: The Greater Cincinnati area’s professional and collegiate sports teams house a veritable ecosystem of well-designed characters — some by Kent; some not.
From a humanoid tornado to an axe-wielding Viking, here’s a field guide to some of the city’s furry friends.
Mr. RedPhoto: Hailey Bollinger
Mr. Red
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Born: 1953
Classic traits: Smiling ceaselessly; literally being a baseball
Backstory: The Cincinnati Reds weren’t just the first ball club to field a roster entirely composed of professional players. They were also the first of three major league teams to design a mascot who was an anthropomorphic baseball. Though the costumed version of Mr. Red most Cincinnati natives (and fans) know and love first took the field during the 1972 season — eight years after the New York Mets’ similarly-styled Mr. Met debuted — the mascot was introduced in 1953 as the team’s official logo, later appearing as a sleeve patch in 1955.
The initial mustachioed incarnation of the mascot, known today as Mr. Redlegs — think of him as Mr. Red’s grandfather — was drawn by The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Harold E. Russell, coinciding with the team’s decision to change their name from the Reds to the Redlegs amid the anti-communist “Red Scare” of the time.
The logo received a clean-shaven update in 1968, establishing Mr. Red’s classic form and, thus, inspiring Stagecraft, Inc.’s design of the Reds’ on-field mascot. Mr. Red suited up during the team’s back-to-back World Series run in 1975 and 1976 but was ultimately sidelined in the early ’80s. An Enquirer ranking of MLB mascots compiled in 1982 rated Mr. Red as the league’s worst mascot, citing the conservative organization’s unwillingness to let him engage in the shenanigans that, say, the San Diego Chicken might dabble in.
“I’m restricted,” said then-mascot Jeff Fields in the article’s sidebar. “I’d like to mess around on the field with the players once in a while, but the club believes the game is the only thing that should be on the field.”
Attitudes have certainly changed since then. Since Mr. Red returned permanently in 1997, the Reds have added three new mascots to their ranks: Gapper, a furry Muppet-like creature, was introduced in 2002, followed by the reintroduction of Mr. Redlegs in 2007 and Rosie Red in 2008.
Gapper
Team: Cincinnati Reds
Born: 2002
Classic traits: Muppet-like appearance; expressive belly
Backstory: Gapper may be the outlier of the Reds’ four mascots, but his lore runs deep. Just read his official origin story as chronicled on the team’s website, which touts his rise to costumed fame as a “tale of heroism and destiny.”
Until the early 2000s, so the biography goes, our furry friend lived on the island of Blue Stone, which is populated solely by blue monsters who moonlight as soccer hooligans. Except for Gapper. With his crimson coat and passion for baseball, Gapper’s search for a raison d’etre landed him — naturally — in the Midwest, where competition in the Reds’ NL Central division is often fierce.
After brief stints in cities like St. Louis (too many birds) and with the Milwaukee Brewers (sausage and cheese made him gain weight), a fateful raft expedition on the Ohio River landed him in Cincinnati, where Mr. Red rescued him. Since the color of Gapper’s fur made him a logical addition to the ball club, Mr. Red offered him a spot on his team’s mascot roster. Gapper was so impressed with the city’s rich baseball history that he couldn’t refuse.
In reality, Gapper was commissioned to debut just before Great American Ball Park, which opened its gates in the spring of 2003. According to Reds mascot coordinator Nick St. Pierre, who formerly occupied Gapper’s suit, the mascot was designed by Dave Raymond, first inhabitant of the legendary Phillie Phanatic.
“(Former Reds COO) John Allen came to me at an All-Star game in Seattle in 2001 and asked, ‘How do we make our mascots more kid-friendly?’ ” St. Pierre says. “I had an opportunity to work with the Phillie Phanatic at that point and decided that we needed something like that — something that’s got a belly he can play with and could be pushed back to be a butt. I described the nose — I wanted it to root around with it, kind of as a prop. And out of that grew Gapper.”
Gapper’s design was introduced to the public in 2002 via an Enquirer contest through which readers could submit tentative names for the new mascot. Contestant Sam Frank submitted the winning name, which refers to the proverbial “gap” between outfielders, earning two season tickets for his creativity.
The BearcatPhoto: Hailey Bollinger
The Bearcat
Team: University of Cincinnati
Born: 1914
Classic traits: Over a century old; originated as a bear/cat hybrid, not an actual bearcat
Backstory: The University of Cincinnati’s athletics department doesn’t take its name after a bear or a cat or a binturong (an Asian mammal also known as a bearcat). Instead, the origin of the program’s nickname dates back to 1914, when UC newspaper editor and cheerleader Norman Lyon deemed football captain Leonard Baehr a “Baehr cat” during a face-off against the University of Kentucky Wildcats. Shortly after the UC victory, a cartoon in the school paper depicted their team as a quadruped bear-cat hybrid chasing a scrawny kitten. The name stuck.
Mr. BearcatPhoto: Provided by the University of Cincinnati
The Bearcat’s first on-field mascot suited up in 1950, albeit in a primitive and somewhat creepy form. With help from Stagecraft, Inc., the school unveiled its first proper mascots in 1976: a bearcat couple who were wed in the student union during that season’s homecoming.
“It stemmed from my work at Kings Island — that was my summer job,” says Stagecraft’s Kent. “But during the winter for four years, I was going to UC. As I started developing characters for Kings Island, I developed the Bearcat, and donated it to UC, which was the single best thing I did as a young entrepreneur. It branched out into word of mouth to Duke, DePaul, Virginia and Maryland.”
The duo, who shared aesthetic similarities with the costumed cast of H.R. Pufnstuf, stuck around until the ’90s, when the male mascot’s design was slimmed down. The Bearcats called on outside help in 2006 for their latest rebrand, creating an edgier and more intimidating iteration of the character.
(UC also has a living mascot in the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s new baby bearcat, Lucille.)
Y'all Star
Team: The team formerly known as the Florence Freedom (they’re in the middle of a rebrand)
Born: 2016
Classic Traits: Integral to local lore; maximum hydration
Backstory: The concept of freedom is an abstract one — so much so that a bald eagle can be replaced by a water-tower-turned-mall-advertisement and it totally makes sense.
For better or for worse, the Florence Y’all water tower is Northern Kentucky’s statue of liberty: a red and white beacon of consumer culture and Midwestern hospitality. At UC Health Stadium, which the Frontier League Baseball team formerly known as the Florence Freedom calls home, the water tower comes to life in the form of the team’s mascot: Y’all Star.
The 6-foot-5-inch, 220-pound mascot debuted in 2016, replacing Liberty and Belle, two birds that formerly served the team.
Josh Anderson, the Freedom’s general manager, says that the change stemmed from recurring maintenance costs and the desire for a mascot that better represents the team’s hometown.
“Whenever we would take Belle to appearances, especially across the river in Cincinnati, no one really associated her with the team,” said Anderson. “Now, when we take the Florence Y’all water tower in a baseball uniform across, it’s much more identifiable.”
He also cites Y’all Star’s resilience as a key factor in the switch. Suits frequently need repairs over the course of the season, which Anderson says can be costly. Amazing!! Mascots, who also designed FC Cincinnati’s Gary, allows for the team to order individual replacement parts, saving roughly 75 percent of the $18,000 it cost to order an entirely new Belle or Liberty.
Particularly inspired by the Chicago Bulls’ Benny the Bull, Anderson says that having an entertainer’s instincts is the key to being a great mascot.
“They just need to be full of energy. It takes someone to get in there and be fearless,” he says. “Someone who truly loves putting smiles on faces. And if you can dance a little bit, that doesn’t hurt either.”
There may be one other factor as well.
“The good thing about having a water tower mascot,” Anderson says, “is that they never get dehydrated.”
Y’all Star may want to update his resume, however. A new ownership group purchased the team in July, announcing this fall that the team would change its nickname and branding for the upcoming 2020 season, decided by a contest. Fans were able to submit potential names, and the best choices were featured in a poll to determine the winning idea.
Of the thousands of submissions, five were chosen: the Go-Goettas, the Y’alls, the Pop Flies, the No Sox and the Fossil Jockeys, named for the nearby Big Bone Lick State Park Historic Site’s paleontological history.
Polling ran from Nov. 27 to Dec. 11, but the results were not yet announced at press time. The possibility of a giant, ball-playing tube of goetta boggles the mind.
Victor E. VikingPhoto: Hailey Bollinger
Victor E. Viking
Team: Northern Kentucky University
Born: 2005
Classic Traits: World-renowned intimidator; thickest eyebrows and mustache in the game
Backstory: Northern Kentucky University hasn’t shied away from tinkering with the identity of its mascot, experimenting with different species and aesthetics over time. The school’s first foray into costumed territory was in 1992 with Hey U!, a 7-foot reptile who appeared to be the good-natured spawn of Pete’s Dragon and the Loch Ness Monster.
HeyUPhoto: Provided by Northern Kentucky UniversityVictor E. Viking, a 10th-century Norseman with braids, took over in 2005 in order to better reflect the school’s nickname. With a permanent grimace surrounded by wild yellow facial hair, Victor is known more for intimidation than charm. A 2015 ESPN article even ranked him the ninth scariest mascot in college basketball, falling just short of Oklahoma State’s Pistol Pete and Arizona State’s Sparky the Sun Devil.
When the NKU Norse rebranded their athletic department in 2016, axing gray from their color scheme and simplifying their logo, Victor also received a modernist facelift. The new Victor smiled, his helmet changed from gray to gold and he carried a cartoonish foam shield.
“We tried to soften him up a little bit,” says assistant athletic director for marketing, promotions and tickets Brandon Hays. “We wanted to make him more kid friendly. And it just didn’t go well.”
The campus community’s response to the reveal was negative enough for the department to go back to the drawing board. A poll taken by the university gave students the chance to choose Victor’s official design moving forward: he could remain in his made-over form, revert to his classic design or swap out heads while keeping his new body. The last option proved to be the most popular, earning 59 percent of 7,000 votes cast.
“It turned out that alums really resonated with Victor as a mascot,” Hays says. “They take a lot of pride in him being a kind of intimidating figure, you know?”
Victor remains in his elected form today, piloted by a theater student who receives a scholarship for his/her/their services.
“I was a mascot for a couple of minor league teams while I was in college,” Hays says. “Typically, it pays hourly or there’s a scholarship involved.”
Twister (left) and PuckchopPhoto: Hailey Bollinger
Twister & Puckchop
Team: Cincinnati Cyclones
Born: 1995 and 2015, respectively
Classic Traits: Prodigious head-sliding ability; missing teeth
Backstory: Most mascots are known for their hijinks on the field (or on the ice, as the case may be), but few show as much athletic dedication to horseplay as Twister from hockey team the Cincinnati Cyclones, the Buffalo Sabres’ ECHL affiliate.
In 2009, the anthropomorphic tornado set a Guinness world record, notching the longest-ever slide on ice while doing a head stand. The flat top of Twister’s head, perfectly suited to the task of upside-down sliding, was covered in a layer of Teflon tape to decrease friction — a costume alteration that proved slippery enough to clear the 80 foot distance between the Heritage Bank Center (formerly the U.S. Bank Arena) rink’s blue line to its opposite goal line.
The Cyclones introduced their second mascot in 2015. Puckchop, a uniformed pig with a missing front tooth, joins Twister to help represent Cincinnati’s history as a meat-packing hub in the 19th century.
According to the Cyclones’ website, Puckchop weighs in at 513 pounds, is a fan of Weezer and avidly watches the Food Network. In 2017, he participated in a season of ECHL Bachelorette hosted by the Indy Fuel. According to his contestant profile, he’s “known for bringing his dates to Skyline Chili” and cites The Silence of the Lambs as his favorite movie.
GaryPhoto: Provided by FC Cincinnati
Gary
Team: FC Cincinnati
Born: 2019
Classic Traits: Regal headwear; commonplace nickname
Backstory: Gary isn’t the first name that comes to mind when confronted with a life-sized blue-and-orange lion. But don’t let the unusually common moniker of FC Cincinnati’s mascot fool you — a truly bizarre stroke of fan obsession helped christen the club’s furry frontman.
Gary’s origin story begins well before he was introduced in his physical form. Let’s rewind a little further, back to Nov. 9, 2018, when FC Cincinnati’s upgraded team crest design leaked a few months prior to the start of the team’s inaugural season in the MLS.
The new crest introduced a softer color palette, tightening into a squat, five-pointed shape inspired by the architecture of Central Avenue’s Lifehouse Worship Center. More important, though, was its redesigned winged lion emblem. Where the two-dimensional mascot once stood on hind legs, a more detailed and ferocious lion pounced. According to club promotional materials, the animal’s tail curls into a “c” shape in an act of municipal pride while the seven spikes on its mane represent Cincinnati’s seven hills.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed an even subtler message unintentionally hidden in the lion’s design. As noted by bemused FC boosters online, the orange space between its neck and body spells out “GARY” in jagged text.
When FC Cincinnati introduced its mascot in February, the club capitalized on the meme. Thus, Gary was born. Designed by Chicago-based company Amazing!! Mascots, he is the cuddly foil to the team crest’s knife-wielding feline, busting moves on the pitch while posting memes on Twitter.
Who Dey
Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Born: 2000s
Classic Traits: Nickname doubles as a slogan
Backstory: Named for the Bengals’ iconic rallying cry, Who Dey the tiger “personifies the team spirit,” former Bengals PR director Jack Brennan once said in an Enquirer interview.
The mascot’s current design, which served as a cuter replacement for its more realistic predecessor, was quietly introduced during the 2009 season. Since then, he’s helped Cincinnati field an all-mascot football team, served as a silent sports analyst for Local 12 and demonstrated proper hands-only CPR technique in a TriHealth Cincinnati training video.
The Bengals’ first mascot — a live tiger cub named Benzoo — debuted during the Bengals’ inaugural 1968 season. The team was named for a separate Cincinnati Bengals franchise that existed from 1937 to 1941, linking the present Bengals to their local forebears.
Even More Mascots
Blue Blob — Xavier University
Unveiled in 1985, this amorphous heap of fuzz toes the fine line between cartoonish charm and eldritch horror. In theory, a wriggling blue shape with a 22-inch tongue tucked inside its gaping maw would be more at home in a Lovecraft novel than on the court. In person, though, it’s strangely cute. Maybe it’s those kind, permanently bugged-out eyes.
The chaotic-good foil to D’Artagnan — Xavier’s mustachioed musketeer mascot — the blob is the ultimate deconstruction of what a mascot should be. Stripped of distracting characterization, save for his team’s colors, the blob is an abstract force of mischief. It rolls, it bounces and it flails its giant tongue about, saying more about staying true to your school than words ever could.
Tommy Mo — Thomas More University
The real Thomas More was born five centuries too early to have seen a basketball court, though sports were likely of little concern to the patron saint of Statesmen and Politicians. There’s no word on the man’s ball-handling skills, but he did pave the way for the genres of utopian and dystopian fiction (and the later utopian socialist movement) before being executed by Henry VIII. Strangely, his mascot likeness, nicknamed “Tommy Mo,” works pretty well on the sidelines. The suit looks stylish, complete with More’s signature cap and some impossibly thick eyebrows.
Rudy Flyer — University of Dayton
From his ripped biceps to his unnervingly intimidating chin, Rudy Flyer is a product of the early ’80s fascination with action and superhuman strength. According to his press sheet, Rudy can bench press more than 400 pounds, flies a stunt plane on the side and studies hard at the University of Dayton. His perpetual grimace is a little off-putting, but we stan a multi-talented mascot.
"Sporty" - Google News
January 22, 2020 at 05:02AM
https://ift.tt/2GakWjc
Meet Your Mascots: A Field Guide to Cincinnati's Sporty, Furry Friends - Cincinnati CityBeat
"Sporty" - Google News
https://ift.tt/39Axe1U
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Meet Your Mascots: A Field Guide to Cincinnati's Sporty, Furry Friends - Cincinnati CityBeat"
Posting Komentar