The ball flies through the air. The receiver lunges and catches it. Touchdown. Out comes the purple and white Scotsman with football jersey number 14, waving around the PHS flag. He runs back and forth in front of the stands, loudly cheering for Piedmont.
Senior Cole Becker is the Piedmont kilt-wearing mascot whose job is to invigorate the school spirit at football games by running around and acting silly in front of the crowd in his purple and white mascot outfit.
“I make a fool out of myself to help boost the spirit,” Becker said. “People like to laugh when they see silly things.”
Becker said it does not take much work or practice time to be a mascot, but requires a lot of energy and enthusiasm to help cheer on the game.
“I’m energetic and want to make people laugh, so being a mascot is awesome,” Becker said.
Becker said the mascot position is funded by the PHS ASB and the Piedmont Boosters, which pays for whatever materials he needs.
“I guess you could say that I’m the official mascot, but I’m just a student wanting to get people excited and pumped,” Becker said.
Senior cheer captain Tia Ikemoto proposed the idea of adding a mascot two years ago.
“The cheerleaders go to away games and sometimes the other high schools have mascots,” Ikemoto said. “A lot of students get super excited when they see a mascot, and I thought it’d be a good addition to the school spirit at PHS.”
According to Ikemoto, the cheerleaders hosted mascot tryouts that were not very successful, but luckily, Cole stepped up for the job.
“We’ve been really lucky to have someone so spirited as our mascot,” Ikemoto said.
Athletic director Jeff Peters said he approved Becker as being a mascot.
“Cole is a great kid, and I was fine with him being a mascot at football games,” Peters said.
Junior Scott Ng said he liked having a mascot at the Homecoming game against Tennyson.
“Cole’s really funny and always puts people around him in a good mood, especially when he’s a mascot during the game,” Ng said. “It definitely helped turn the game loss into a more positive experience.”
Since Cole is the only mascot, and is graduating next year, he is looking for people to fill his shoes.
“I’m starting a Club of Mascots to find people who will take on my role as mascot next year,” Becker said. “Anyone is welcome to join in hopes of elevating the school spirit at football games.”
Ikemoto hopes to find a team of people to take Becker’s place when he graduates, expanding the program so that there would be a mascot present at every game.
“It’s actually really fun and not a lot of work, so hopefully a few people will be interested,” Ikemoto said.
However, Ikemoto warns that being a mascot is not for the faint of heart.
“If you’ve ever been to a game, you’ll see Cole running back and forth, belting out cheers, and getting people to do the wave,” said Ikemoto.
Anyone interested in becoming a mascot should talk to Becker or Ikemoto.
“Being a mascot does not get you PE credit, but you do get community service,” Ikemoto said.
