ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 26, 1996 TAG: 9610280029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS STAFF WRITER
I can't wait to do this!
Hold on to my head!
I hope I make it to the top this time and don't get dropped after the band.
Please don't rip off my tail!
These are just a few of the thoughts that'll be running through the head of the man inside the Hokie Bird suit as he's hoisted and passed up the cheering crowd at Lane Stadium today.
A tradition at Lane Stadium, the passing of the Bird has become known as "surfing the crowd." It's Todd Maroldo's favorite part of the job.
"I'm elated when I'm up there," Maroldo said. "It's the best feeling when you just lay you're arms out, fall back into the band [members] and start the ride."
Maroldo and his partner, sophomore Amy Wells, are the man and woman alternating time inside the popular Virginia Tech mascot's suit this fall.
Maroldo said he usually starts surfing when the game becomes boring, to try to bring the crowd back to life. But he said the fun doesn't come without a price. After being grabbed and mangled on the way up - he feels it all as his evening winds down. Maroldo said he is often bruised and battered after a game, but doesn't fear serious injury.
"I've been dropped a lot," Maroldo said. "But the suit is actually pretty protective."
That's because the adorably oversized Hokie Bird suit is put on layer by layer, with a total weight of 30 pounds. Thirty pounds when it's dry. After the Sept. 7 game at Akron in the pouring rain, the suit weighed in at a whopping 57 pounds.
Taking the weight and heat of the suit into consideration, it's easy to see why Maroldo isn't looking forward to Virginia Tech's Nov. 16 date at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Even in November, the sweltering heat of the Sunshine State will take its toll.
At home games, the senior and second-year mascot is only under cover for one half of the action. He then switches places with his partner, Wells, the first woman to serve as mascot in eight years. But only one of the mascots travels to away games, and must work all four quarters. Maroldo lost 11 pounds at one football game this year when he had to work the entire game, and anticipates a bigger drop at Miami.
But the mascots do much more than what's seen at football and basketball games. They also make special appearances. While neither Maroldo or Wells is on scholarship at Tech, as most mascots associated with the National Cheerleading Association are, they do receive payment for special appearances.
"That's why there always has to be two mascots," Maroldo said. "In case one of us gets sick, we have to know what each other has planned. Putting the routines together is a lot more of a team effort than you might think."
Maroldo, for example, made a guest appearance at a wedding reception at the Donaldson Brown Hotel and Conference Center on campus last weekend. He did so at the request of the bride and groom, both Tech alumni. He also has a contract with Texas Steakhouse for appearances from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturdays following a home football game. Maroldo said he earns from $25 to $50 per hour, depending on the engagement.
"I've been to mascot camp and I'm educated at what I do," Maroldo said. "You have to know when to be a class act and when to go crazy."
Maroldo and Wells are also responsible for creating their own props to be used at games and at competitions. He estimates they have approximately two shopping carts full of props hidden in a back room at Cassell Coliseum, and try to come up with several uses for each one.
Maroldo's partner last year, Curtis Dvorak, came up with one of the most memorable uses of a prop in recent history. At a home basketball game against the St. Joseph Hawks, the crowd and the Hokie Bird alike were becoming annoyed with the action of the Hawk, which is required by his school to stand in one place and flap his arms up and down throughout the entire game. He can't play with the other team's mascot, nor can he take a break from the flapping. At the encouragement of the crowd, the Bird decided it was time to pick on the Hawk. He headed into the back room at Cassell and emerged with - a stop sign.
"That was fantastic," Maroldo said. "At camp you get taught to take an object and do several different things with it. The stop sign was something we already had, and the crowd just went wild when he brought it out. Curtis is the best Hokie Bird we've had he taught me well."
The Hawk remains on the top of Maroldo's "hit list" for opposing mascots. Others on the Bird's list of those most fun to pick on are the Miami Hurricane, the Virginia Cavalier, the Rhode Island Ram and the Syracuse Orangeman.
"I'm doing this because I wanted to get involved in school spirit," Maroldo said. "And I also wanted to continue the tradition.
"My parents always knew I would do something different with my life," he added with a smile. "They think I'm a 10-year-old in a 21-year-old's body."
Make that a 21-year-old in the Hokie Bird's body. And the Bird's size 18 sneakers are exciting ones to fill.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gene Dalton. The Hokie Bird does push-ups on theby CNBshoulder of Tech cheerleaders at the Boston College game this year.
color.