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Cornell Spirit: Much More Than the Bear Minimum

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The Big Red Bears and their endless love for Cornell

Perhaps you’ve seen it elicit cheers at a football game; maybe you’ve caught a glimpse of it moseying through Ho Plaza. In any case, Cornell is going to be seeing more of it. The Big Red Bears organization has recently taken the initiative to build its program and increase the popularity of the school mascot, officially named Touchdown.

Though the mascot bears this football-oriented name, according to the Big Red Bears, it appears at a variety of other sports events including basketball games, golf tournaments, swimming and diving meets, and has most recently made a return to several ice hockey games.

“Originally, the school mascot was an actual bear cub,” said Jonathan Raymond ’09, executive vice president of the Big Red Bears.

According to Ask Uncle Ezra, the real bear’s first appearance occurred in 1915.

Raymond further explained that a professor used to wrestle the small bear during halftime at the football games, giving rise to the bear’s name. According to Raymond, this traditional halftime entertainment came to a halt when the fourth consecutive bear caused the professor to break his arm. According to Uncle Ezra, it was not until 1939 that the mascot switched to a person in a bear suit.

Today, Touchdown has two distinct bear suits with a myriad of outfits including football, basketball and hockey jerseys. Touchdown also owns a blazer for formal events (so it does not look underdressed at weddings), a cape and a t-shirt from Kraftees, according to the Big Red Bears organization.

Though the separate outfits afford the mascot the ability to please different crowds, the organization made it clear that they are rather difficult to actually put around the outer suit.

“It’s like putting on a long sleeved shirt over a very large winter jacket with a hood,” joked Steph Segien ’10, president of the Big Red Bears.

In total, there are currently 10 members of the organization that rotate the responsibility of playing Touchdown. Though it is no secret who the members of the club are, Segien explained that once a member dons the bear suit, he or she is not allowed to share his or her true identity.

In addition to this general rule, the organization stated that there are two other important limitations.

“One is to always keep moving, and the other is to never talk,” said Jessica Granoff ’09, secretary of the Big Red Bears.

In general, the Big Red Bears explained that Touchdown’s presence around campus should aim to lighten the mood.

“Touchdown is a good symbol of community as well as school spirit,” Granoff said.

Although Touchdown affiliates itself with Cornell, Granoff also explained that the official mascot of the school is The Big Red, whereas the animal is only an unofficial addendum.

Given its independent standing, the Big Red Bears have the freedom to appear wherever they please. Raymond mentioned that Touchdown can appear at student-organized as well as faculty events.

“If any organization throwing an event on campus wants the bear to be there, then we are more than happy to do it,” Granoff said.

Appearing around campus and attending non-sporting events are certainly steps that the club has taken to heighten the school’s familiarity with the mascot. It has also attempted to continue an old tradition — cameos at the men’s ice hockey games.

Touchdown’s presence at the hockey games was a tradition that ended seven years ago, according to Segien.

She explained that Touchdown actually used to strip its outer clothing to music that the band would play.

According to Raymond, the rink manager complained that the fans were getting too riled up.

“This just meant that we were doing our job too well,” Raymond said.

The controversy terminated the tradition, but beginning in the fall of 2007, the bears returned to conquer the rink once more.

However, this time the bears’ reception is a little different.

“I don’t like it,” said Jordan Fabian ’09, a member of the Lynah Faithful. “I think it detracts from the atmosphere. I feel like they are just skating around aimlessly.”

The Big Red Bears recognizes its initial poor reception. Segien even attested to receiving boos from the

crowd.

“In the beginning, we were experimenting with what to do,” Segien said. “There is a huge ice rink, without any props or music,” she explained.

However, she did note that when the bears performed skits on the ice, the arena gave warmer feedback. The organization now plans to write a number of skits for the audience, and even plans to accept ideas from fans.

In addition to recruiting more members to join the Big Red Bears, the organization plans to bring its major goal of expansion to fruition by having Touchdown appear at a minimum of two events each week.

If you thought that these bears were going into hibernation, think again.

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