Lighting Mascot is a BULL

[E.T.]

Wasn't sure if this should be on the Tampa Sports Board:

Being mascot for professional sports team isn't all fun and games

Last Update: 12/2/2006 10:10:26 AM

   

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - At 27, he's the Tampa Bay Lightning's newest rookie. To prepare himself for his debut this National Hockey League season, Matt Hitchcock honed his craft at two colleges in Florida and even paid his dues in the minor leagues.

So every time Hitchcock dons the Lightning's ThunderBug mascot costume, the University of South Florida senior is thankful he has a new full-time gig with a major league sports team.

Here's why: The competition to become a full-time professional sports mascot is as intense as ever, as these "performers," as they prefer to be called, boast resumes showcasing communications, marketing, sales, promotions and even gymnastics and theater skills. Gone are the days when a pro team would enlist the office clown as its mascot.

"Anybody can put on a costume, but it's a matter of how much you can bring that character to life," said Hitchcock, who will graduate from USF with a degree in mass communications, with a focus on journalism, next month. "It's a very physically demanding job. You're running all over the place during the game."

As the Lightning's mascot coordinator, Hitchcock replaced former veteran mascot performer Jason Franke, who played ThunderBug for six seasons before he resigned this year. Franke works across the street from the St. Pete Times Forum at Andreychuk's Grill.

The career paths of Hitchcock and Kelly Frank, the 25-year-old woman who plays the Raymond character for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, are emblematic of the evolving sports mascot industry. Both are 20-something go-getters who enjoyed theater in high school, built their resumes by playing college mascots and toiled for minor-league sports teams before reaching the major-league stage.

Hitchcock started in the drama club at his Palm Beach County high school and played mascots for the University of Central Florida and USF football teams, and the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League. He also served as a back-up mascot for the NHL Florida Panthers.

Frank played mascots for the old Miami Fusion of Major League Soccer, the former Florida Bobcats of the Arena Football League, the old Orlando Miracle women's basketball team and the minor league baseball Brockton Rox outside Boston.

Both Hitchcock and Frank are full-time employees for their respective teams, which is not always the case for people who play mascots for professional sports teams. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, for example, pay two separate performers to play their Captain Fear mascot, but neither is a full-time staffer for the Bucs, Frank said. Bucs spokesman Jeff Kamis did not return phone calls for this story.

Frank said her job at the Rays became full time in December 2005. Her job title: buzz marketing coordinator.

Besides entertaining fans while in costume, Frank also worked on marketing projects such as a cowbell promotion at a Rays game last season. Rays fans rang cowbells whenever a Rays pitcher got two strikes on an opponent's batter.

Frank, who maintains a Raymond blog, offers mascot updates on myspace.com and posts Raymond videos on YouTube.com. She said her Raymond character costume is getting tweaked for the 2007 season, but it's too early to discuss the mascot's changes.

"It's just not a kid in a suit," said Dave Raymond, who played the original Phillie Phanatic for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1978 to 1993 and is owner and "emperor of fun and games" for Raymond Entertainment Group LLC in Newark, Del. His company creates mascot characters and advises teams on mascots.

"The mascot business is competitive. It's just like a comedian doing standup, and you're trying to set yourself apart from the rest," said Raymond, no relation to the Rays' mascot or Darcy Raymond, who is the Rays' vice president of branding and fan experience.

"The skills they need are marketing and sales. They have to offer more than just being good in the costume," he said.

Raymond Entertainment Group was hired by the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat to hire a new staffer to perform in the Burnie mascot costume this season. Playing an NBA mascot is the most coveted job in the sports mascot industry because of the creative, high-flying showmanship - and the corresponding higher salaries that come with the NBA gigs, Raymond said.

About 80 percent of the NBA teams, including the Orlando Magic, hire full-time employees to play mascots, with the starting annual salary in the $40,000-$45,000 range, Raymond said. About half of the teams in the other major sports leagues hire full-time workers, and half pay their mascots on a per-game basis, with payment in the $100-$200 per-game range, he added.

"We're looking for the best performer," said Matt Biggers, the Magic's director of marketing, who oversees the team's mascot, Stuff the Magic Dragon.

"Much like college athletes, they're building skills. It's very competitive in the NBA because there are not that many (mascot) jobs. It's a demanding job, physically," he said. "Because of the physical nature, they're much like an athlete. They push the limit of entertainment and take more physical risks, whether they're on roller blades or being in a giant slingshot and being shot down the court."

Frank said she is one of 11 full-time workers as mascots in Major League Baseball, with the others making a living from working part time for their teams. The annual starting salary for a recent new full-time MLB mascot job was $28,000, she said.

A handful of performers work into their 40s. But John Routh, a South Miami man who used to play the Billy the Marlin mascot for the Florida Marlins, acknowledged, "There is kind of a youth movement in mascots. ... People expect mascots to do more, whether it's dunking in the NBA or rappelling from the ceiling in hockey."

In 2002, the Marlins let Routh go when he was 43 and hired a much younger performer at a lower salary. Two years earlier, the same thing happened to Wes Lockard, who played the Burnie character for the Heat. Lockard said at the time that he was making $100,000 annually.

These days, Lockard, 50, works as a special-events coordinator for the city of Plantation's parks office in Broward County.

"Being a mascot used to be more of a Three Stooges kind of entertainment. Now you have to be more spectacular," said Routh, 47, Lockard's friend in South Florida. "Wes and I would do skits and make people laugh. Now it's all about the spectacular dunk."

[HOTMello2005]

I know Matt.  He's a great guy.  Always fun when the band and him played off each other's school spirit!

Now I'l have to put up with Matt at Lightning games since I volunteer with the Ightning Foundation...LOL!

GO BULLS!  GO BOLTS!

[80mins]

Hitchcock's been Knightro AND Rocky?  :-X

Good article--mascotting is serious business and a serious culture--I remember my mascot in undergrad at UMBC was roommates and best friends with another local mascot (I think Testudo, the Maryland Terrapin)

Interestingly enough, I was at my holiday parade in Wilmington DE and one of our local fire companies has a mascot that I thought looked like he was related to the Phillie Phanatic. Being reminded that a former Phanatic runs the Mascot Hall of Fame and Raymond Entertainment Group in Newark, it may be entirely possible.

[The_Reaper]

Matt is a great guy! I have known him for a long time, and was willing to do about anything while he was Rocky!  So great to hear you got the gig Matt. I know that's what you wanted. PS, Matt is a board member too!!!    Reaper

[Rabbi Bull]

matts a nice guy, have talk to him many times at events, glad he got it

[HOTbull]

Congrats to him, great guy  

[WoolyBully]

And since sports is really a matter of one-upmanship...

Since the L'ville Cardinal parachutes from time to time

into Papa Johns (Kentucky & Uconn yesterday), maybe

we could give the SOG guys a rest and see if we can

get Rocky to graduate from airborne school?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=5798

and look at "Nice Entrance".

[chicky9914]

Matt was such an excellent Rocky and really helped set the standard for the younger guys who suit up at the games now.  Actually at UCA Spirit Camp this summer (the mascots go up and participate in their own camp while the cheerleaders have theirs) they received the most prestigious award you can get "Most Collegiate." Matt's leadership and attitude was a HUGE part in that! We're all really proud of him!