EDUCATION
Smells like team spirit Be it Rammy the Ram or Gary the Golden Hawk, it’s not easy being a high school mascot BY JEFF CHEW
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the ability to talk and the energy of Arizona’s nuclear generation station. “I perform all around Desert Sunrise, whether it’s a pep rally or sports game,” she said. “My favorite place to perform is at football games because the crowd is always hyped for Gary.” Being Gary or Rammy requires superior physical conditioning. “The costume is very hot and after I am done being in it, I sweat like I just ran a marathon,” the 17-year-old girl who plays Gary said. “I don’t get claustrophobic but sometimes it’s hard to breathe.” Asked what it takes to be a mascot, Rammy said: “Definitely, you got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because that suit is about the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever been in.” Rammy’s favorite event to perform at was a pep rally in which his routine was choreographed ahead of time, he said. “We had an imposter Rammy ... You come out with a sword and fight the other Rammy,” said the real Rammy, who, naturally, won the duel.
What we learned: It’s not easy being a high school mascot. “That first day I did it, I ran a lap around the track for a touchdown,” said Rammy’s vol, a high school senior who dreams of Seattle after graduation. “It was a pretty huge game. I also went and fought [the opponent’s] mascot at the other end of the track. There was a bit of mascot sense going on there. We both knew that it would be a fun little thing to do. And when I ran by the visitors stand, I did a little dance.” Rammy’s animator, who runs a Maricopa Rams-themed Instagram page, said during the fight with the Ironwood Ridge High Nighthawk mascot, they actually exchanged spoken words — a cardinal sin in the mascot world — plotting and directing their moves in real time. What Rammy the youthful human described is just what is expected of the mascot behind the scenes: Move around like a chimpanzee on meth and never stop until it’s over. It’s about keeping the crowd screaming, frenzied and more crazed than Jack Nicholson’s character in The Shining. The 12th-grade student who plays Gary said it all when asked what she loved most about the gig, which requires body language without
HAT’S BIG AND FURRY ON THE outside, has a fan in its head, a peephole in its face and smells like a ripe Maricopa dairy farm
on the inside? That would be the costumes of Rammy the Ram and Gary the Golden Hawk after a pepped-up performance. Rammy and Gary are the beloved mascots for Maricopa and Desert Sunrise High Schools. While the two schools have very different histories, their ferocious fauna are equally loved, according to a December InMaricopa.com poll of more than 200 high school sports fans in the city that ended in a perfect tie — regardless of MHS having a history dating back to 1912 while DSHS is in its third year. We interviewed both mascots, reluctantly agreeing not to blow their cover, even as we gazed into the human eyes of student volunteers behind the giant animal heads. We were told it’s a tradition at both schools, after all, and we’d better respect it. And research shows that’s the case at most learning institutions with mascots. Allie Krigbaum, an Arizona State University alum whose son plays one of the Sun Devils’ “Sparky” mascots, learned Maricopans don’t take it lightly when you mess with tradition, even if it’s an overt April Fool’s Day prank. The Desert Sunrise counselor last April 1 put out a facetious press release stating another high school in Arizona already had a Gary the Golden Hawk of their own and that DSHS was being forced to change the name. “Please welcome Gerald the Golden Hawk to our Hawk Family!” Krigbaum said in her statement. As you can imagine, that went over like a lead Hawk, even if it was in the spirit of April foolery. Fursona non grata Agreeing to interview the mascots under the cloak of secrecy gave us great insight into what it’s like for a student volunteer willing to climb into a costume hotter than a Maricopa afternoon in mid-August.
A HAWK’S TALE
desert and also not just a Hawk as there are other high schools with a Hawk,” Krigbaum said. “We wanted to be unique and there is no Golden Hawk mascot in Arizona.” The students voted on Gary’s name. The top three choices were Cooper, Goldie and Gary, the winning choice by no small margin — 82% of the students voted for this name.
Allie Krigbaum, a Desert Sunrise High School counselor, tells us more about Gary’s backstory. The Golden Hawk costume was a donation from a local church, she said, “as we really wanted a mascot. The kids really wanted one.” The Golden Hawk hatched from focus group conversations that were held before the
school opened in 2021. “They wanted something that represented the
InMaricopa.com | January 2025
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