On Monday afternoon, we pass through the maze on the ground floor of the National Sports Center, a place where no bird has visited in nine days of the World Cup, except for a few insiders. We enter one of the rooms and find ourselves face to face Scott HessingtonV. A gentleman of average height sprawled on one of the benches.
next to him on the table is the head of Yuhuu, the famous cancer sheep. Tool for our friend Scott.
.
After all, for nine days he wore the fur of an aboriginal Hungarian sheep breed in front of 35 thousand spectators of the World Cup, but this happened at football matches, in television studios and at all events where the event needed to be promoted. What a denial, he worked hard for his money…
“Well, how much is this money?” we asked Scott.
I don’t complain, I make good money working as a mascot.
– smiles the personification of Yuhuu, who has been engaged in this craft since 1994, i.e. 29 years ago.
When he started, he was still a student at the University of Arizona. He studied psychology and biology, was trained as a marine biologist and worked briefly at Sea World in Orlando. But a year later he was again lured by the magical world of talismans.
“I was the Boar because the Boar is the Arkansas mascot when the Razorbacks won the NCAA championship in 1994. Corliss Williamson with his control. In the final, we beat the great Duke team 76-72, who Grant Hill he was a star. Unforgettable experience!” Scott’s eyes darken.
If you were 19 in 1994, you should be forty-eight now.
but he could easily deny ten years.
In vain he has to support himself, he runs four times a week, does gymnastics, and also diligently visits the gym.
I have been a professional mascot since 1999, that is Orlando Magic I started with his basketball team, but unfortunately Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway left us at that time. I was Things, magic dragon Between 2002 and 2011 That’s why we had stars, Dwight Howard, Tracey McGrady… Later, for three years, Detroit Pistons I was your talisman Hooper named furry creature of indeterminate species. At the time the Pistons were sick, Andre Drummond was our best player.
However, Scott didn’t fixate on basketball, with Budapest now hosting his third World Championships in Athletics.
“For the first time in 2017 In London I worked, hedgehog herothat is, I was hiding in the skin of a hedgehog, last year, an Oregonian in Eugene Bye Bigfoot Legend I was, you know, bigfoot, big-footed yeti, believed to live in the forests of Oregon.”
as Hedgehog Hero
The talisman must be smart, he must know where the line is between good nature and exaggerated confidentiality. There were also shaky moments in Budapest, but no one got angry, according to Scott.
“WE ARE BALANCED ON A STRAIGHT LINE, BUT I THINK I ALWAYS KNEW WHERE THIS LINE WAS.”
Scott is already ahead of his reputation these days. He didn’t even have to knock on the door of the Budapest Organizing Committee, on the contrary…
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Gallery: Yuhuu, cancer, was a marine biologist from Brooklyn.Photo: Attila Kisbenedek/AFP
“They contacted me in the spring of 2022, a year and a half ago. They signed with my company, the production agency Jigsaw Entertainment, but at the time I had no idea what I was getting into.
According to my profession, it is forty degrees, even when there is no heat, and the normal temperature is twenty degrees.
However, this heat that hit Budapest took its toll on me. And not only me, but also two of my colleagues, since the three of us took turns hiding in Yoohoo’s fur coat: I Zoltan Berenci And John Berle“.
This is logical, since Scott could not cope with the tests alone, he needed breaks. By the way, Zoltan Berenci! So, is one of the three members of the mascot team Hungarian?
“No, Zoltan is a third generation immigrant, his legal name is Zoltan Berenci, his grandparents immigrated to the USA. He doesn’t speak a word of Hungarian anymore.” Scott says.
“Otherwise two of my comrades also an experienced practitioner of the genre, one of them Washington Wizards talisman, their friend in Major League Baseballworks in the professional baseball league.”
Scott is grateful that he was able to work in the NBA for a long time, traveled the world, in 34 countries and was enriched with incredible impressions. Of course, being a mascot is not only fun and laughter.
In fact, our profession is dangerous, inside, hiding in the fur of a fluffy animal, you can even get a heat stroke. We need to know the signals of our body very well, if there is a problem, it’s not worth the risk. To be honest, this work in Budapest was extremely tiring. But it was worth it because it gave us Youhuu copycats a great experience.
By the way, Scott got to know Yoohoo’s story in such detail that he also went to a farm in Hortobágy where he met real live flocks.
“They are rather incredulous animals, they don’t allow themselves to be stroked” he smiles.
The most famous mascot in the world is a New Yorker and lives in Brooklyn with his wife and ten year old son.
“He is very good at sports and could easily follow in his father’s footsteps. By the way, I myself am a stuntman, worked in several films. Now, after the end of the World Cup, my family and I are going on a longer vacation, the destination is Costa Rica. I have read a lot about the pristine rainforest and can’t wait to get to know the country’s famous ecosystem. After all, I would be a marine biologist by profession, or whatever…”
(Cover image: Scott Hessington. Photo: Timea Karip / Index)
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