The Department of Athletics and Recreation held auditions on Nov. 3 for all students, faculty and staff interested in becoming the Bobcat mascot, a character that will be present at sporting events to show team spirit while interacting with the crowd.
The three people who showed up to audition were selected, but placed in rank order with one person being the primary Bobcat and two others being backups.
While people may be eager to know who will be on the court, field and rink, the people under the costumes will remain anonymous.
“Revealing the Bobcat is kind of like revealing who superman is,” said Jack McDonald, director of Athletics and Recreation.
For the auditions, each person wrote an introduction, which included their name, if they chose for it to be read, class, previous mascot experience if any, and why her or she wanted to be the Bobcat.
Special talents, which would make the person a good candidate for the mascot, along with any special skills such as ice skating abilities, were mentioned in the introduction.
Bobcat candidates were given a minute to audition and costumes were available for those who wanted to wear one. The cheerleaders, pep band and athletic department judged the future Bobcats.
“I think having a mascot at games is definitely what we need,” said Tara Faldman, president of the pep band. “We provide the music and pep, and the mascot will provide entertainment.”
The Bobcat mascot will first debut at Thursday Night Madness. This is the first time pictures of the costume will be available and possibly near the time the name of the Bobcat will be announced.
McDonald said the Bobcat is not named yet, but it may be named by the time this paper hit the stands and just in time for Thursday Night Madness.
McDonald thinks that having the mascot present at events will have positive effectsand that having the Bobcat interact with the crowd is a good idea.
“It will be really great,” he said. “People can hug and kiss the mascot. Kids can high five the Bobcat and it will be good to have a mascot present. I’m really ecstatic.”
McDonald is pleased with the support that he is getting from the Quinnipiac community in revealing the new team identity and the mascot.
“I’m so grateful to President Lahey, Manny Carreiro, the administration, faculty and students for showing cooperation and school spirit in revealing the new identity,” said McDonald. “People have been fantastic to deal with in revealing the new identity, logo and soon the mascot.”