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Most juniors have attended their fair share of DU sporting events over the years: cheering, drinking and showing their school pride. Junior Zeke Perez, public policy and political science major, has spent the last two years dressing up as DU mascot “Denver Boone” to represent the ultimate school pride during both games and other campus events.
“Denver Boone” was designed by Walt Disney and served as the DU official mascot from 1968-1998. Independent members of the DU community and alumni brought back Boone in 2009 for sporting and university events, after he was retired by DU administration in 1998.
Perez grew up in Denver and says he has always been a huge sports fan, particularly of Colorado teams.
“I had always seen the mascots and thought it would be a fun thing to at least try,” said Perez.
During his freshman year, Perez saw on the Boone Facebook page tryouts were to be held for students interested in taking over the honorary Boone duties since the person was graduating. Perez struggled to decide whether or not he was cut out for the job.
“I let a few days go by without commenting because I’m a quiet, laid-back guy, so I thought I could never really be a crazy, outgoing mascot,” Perez said.
However, Perez tried out and ended up becoming the next Boone. Perez said there were six or seven other people who tried out by donning the legendary Boone suit during various events on campus and “jumping into” the mascot duties. Eventually, Perez was named the new mascot and was off to Mascot Boot camp.
Dave Raymond, the original Phillie Phanatic for Major League Baseball’s the Philadelphia Phillies, hosts this real boot camp in Delaware, where different mascots for professional teams, colleges and businesses join forces to train and learn new techniques, according to Perez.
Perez says, however, a lot of Boone’s duties are improvisatory and on the spot due to the fans and the unpredictability of sporting events.
Being Boone has helped Perez travel to numerous places and take part in some amazing experiences. From traveling with the DU athletes to Minnesota for hockey to the Lacrosse Final Four in Maryland, Perez has also been the face of students during events around the Denver community.
Perez is running a 5k race in June at City Park as Boone, he attended the Mascot Olympics in Breckenridge last month and he got to represent the entire student body last year when, dressed as Boone, he took a get-well card to severely injured hockey player Jesse Martin in the hospital.
“The thousands of kids, alumni, students and fans that I’ve met while traveling or at events here in Denver always help me to remember why I love doing what I do,” said Perez.
Perez does say, however, the Boone suit is incredibly hot, sometimes getting up to 140 degrees, regardless of the weather. More than the heat, however, Perez says the Boone suit offers extremely limited vision.
“It makes for a lot of missed high fives and awkward moments,” Perez said.
Perez is currently a junior, but he is staying on for an extra year to complete his masters in public policy and political science. However, he suggests to students interested in taking the torch of the Boone Mascot to look out for tryout information on Boone’s Facebook page, and here in the Clarion in the next year or two, as he plans to start phasing out towards his inevitable graduation.
