The Mascot

"I don't go to football games to watch the players, I go for the mascot," exclaimed Monica, an excited fan, while walking into the football stadium. "More specifically, I go for Roongo." A football game can always be exciting, but it is not complete without the excitement a mascot can bring. The atmosphere changes with a mascot. He is not your typical mascot, he represents Bloomsburg University.

(Figure 1)

Roongo does not look like your typical college mascot. He was made from a company in Canada that designs mascots for the big leagues, like the NHL. His face is inviting with his mouth open like most dogs do. He has black ears and paws, but his main colors are grey and white. For football games, Roongo likes to wear a gold football jersey with double zero's in maroon (Figure 1). Roongo loves football games, it is his main event that he attends. He entices students show to their school pride dressed in Bloomsburg apparel with his face plastered somewhere on the clothing. The football games are always fun. The football field with BU in large, maroon and gold letters lures rivalry (Figure 2). The fans attract adrenaline, their screams drowning out everything around them. The band in the background, almost unheard from the screams, produces a sense of anticipation as everyone waits for the game. By the actions produced from Roongo, it is undeniable that he loves football games.

(Figure 2)

Roongo was not always who he is today, and for people not from around here, Roongo is just a name they might have heard in passing conversation. Roongo started out as an actual husky, a dog that was brought to these events. They stopped after four different replacements, and Roongo finally became a person dressed in a dog costume. Every couple of years, the costume for Roongo was replaced and it always looked different. That was until 2004. In 2004, the president of the university decided that there should be a real look for the mascot. After many sketches to get the perfect Husky costume, the new and improved mascot was debuted at a home football game. Roongo was flown in by a helicopter, to the middle of the football field where he handed the officials the game ball. Since then, Roongo has become a prominent figure for Bloomsburg.


There are strict rules to abide by for anyone interested in becoming Roongo. Roongo has to be between 5'7" and 5'11" to make sure that the costume will fit him appropriately. Since Roongo is a highly known figure, he has to be mindful about his actions. Roongo doesn't speak, so he expresses himself through body gestures, therefore Roongo has to refrain from performing any movement that can be considered disrespectful. The student playing Roongo is also never allowed to be seen "without the head or the body, you always have to be in the full costume" Tom McGuire, Director of Sports Information, said with a stern look, as it will ruin the allusion of Roongo being more than just a person in a costume.

As a result of keeping up the allusion of Roongo being less than a mascot, the person playing Roongo has to try their best to hide their identity from everyone. Meeting Roongo is like meeting the president, you can only get so close to him, but you can never touch him. The person behind the mask must do whatever it takes to avoid being seen. "There was this one time," Tom McGuire shared, "where we had the same mascot for four years." No one knew who he was. He would sit on the bus with the cheerleaders in just a hoodie, and the cheerleaders never knew he was Roongo. "No one found out he played Roongo until senior night when he was acknowledged with the rest of the seniors on the football team. It came as a surprise to everyone."

There are other times where seeing the man behind the mask is inevitable. "We always tell the character you need to decide on your own when you need to come off the field to get a break," Tom McGuire told with a slight smile on his face. " Because the costume is heavy, and they wear a vest of icepacks around their body to keep them some what cool, but it's still hot, and if they don't stay hydrated they will pass out. And the elevator was coming up to the press box after the game was over and Roongo was sprawled out in there, passed out, because he was dehydrated." He let out a chuckle, shaking his head at the memory of it. "We called a trainer and there just so happened to be a doctor in the press box, so they were helping him out."

Despite everything that has happened in the past, Roongo continues to do what he loves. At the first football game, Roongo shows all of the new fans and the new freshmen just how much he loves what he does. Every time the Huskies make an amazing play, Roongo cheers with the fans. He walks back and forth, waving his paws up and down frantically to entice the fans to cheer along with him. He steals the pompoms from the cheerleaders, joining in on their cheers and attempts to do a toe touches. He is always so engrossed in the game that when there is a flag thrown on the play against our team, Roongo throws his paws up and shakes his head in defeat. He looks up at the press box with his paws in the air every time there is a bad call on our team. He keeps the fans involved. He pays attention to the fans, instead of ignoring them.

He notices the fans, and it could not have been more evident of just how much Roongo pays attention than when he spotted a little girl out of the entire stadium. She was dressed in a maroon Bloomsburg cheerleader uniform, her golden hair in pig tails and a smile stretching across her face. Roongo walked right up to her, and with every step, the little girls smile grew bigger and bigger, the excitement bubbling out of her. It was contagious. Roongo bent down, and the second he was down, the little girl ran into his arms, her smile wider than ever. Roongo's shoulders shook with what had to have been laughter. The joy on the little girls face lit up the entire stadium. When they pulled away, Roongo held out his paw for a high five, and the little girl giggled before slapping his paw as hard as she could that his hand dropped from the force. Roongo stood up again, still looking down at the little girl, blew a kiss to her and waved his paw before turning away. But before he left the stadium, he turned around, the little girl still looking at him with her toothless smile, and he gave her a thumbs up before finally leaving the stadium.

The mascot for a football game has quite the affect on people, changing the entire experience. Roongo is so well known, and such an enthusiastic character that even opposing teams stayed to take pictures with him. It does not matter if they are rivals, Roongo brings such joy to the people around him that he draws the attention of everyone. The mascot can be a game changer, and Roongo has set high standards for every other mascot around.