When attending football games last year, one student, junior Olivia Storey, noticed an absence of Free State’s mascot, Freddy the Firebird, on the sidelines. Storey said that because of some spare time and a desire to add some whimsy to her life, she volunteered to fulfill that role.
In previous years, there has not been one specific person whose role is to adorn the Freddy costume; instead, a member of the Spirit Squad or Student Council would wear it for necessary events. Now, with Storey as the appointed mascot, the Freddy persona was present at every home football game and cheer event.
As the first ever designated Freddy, Storey was in control of exactly how she wanted to portray Freddy to viewers at the game.
“I feel like Freddy was very flirtatious and mischievous. Freddy was just a little sassy. I really just did a lot of dancing and bopping around, not knowing what was going on because there are no rules to being Freddy,” Storey said.
Since Freddy is a high-profile figure and Storey was directly in front of the student section at every game, she said she attracted a lot of attention.
“Interacting with people as Freddy was so fun, especially the little kids. We couldn’t walk anywhere without being stopped by like 20 moms being like ‘Can we get a picture?’” Storey said. “The student section was a little bit more challenging because they were all way more desperate to know who was in the suit.”
When signing up to become the mascot, Storey said she knew she wanted to not be tied back to the Freddy present at every game. Storey said keeping the secret was just another way to make her time as the Firebird more fun.
“[It wasn’t hard] to keep the secret because when everybody started finding out, it wasn’t hard for me to just refute it,” Storey said. “I was convincing a lot of people; as myself, I feel like I changed a lot of people’s minds [on me being Freddy].”
As Freddy, Storey worked closely with the Spirit Squad, learning some of the basic cheers and attending one practice a week. This also meant everyone on the Spirit Squad was expected to be in on Storey’s secret, which, Storey said, they were all more than happy to do.
“They did way better than I thought they would. No one wanted the secret to come out, no one, literally no one [from the Spirit Squad] let it slip. When everyone figured it out, it was because the people started putting pieces together,” Storey said.
As the football season came to an end, Storey said she knew she was coming upon her final weeks as Freddy, as she does not plan to continue next year; Storey said that’s exactly why she wanted to reveal herself.
“I enjoyed it so much, and I’m so thankful for the Spirit Squad because they made it so fun for me,” Storey said. “I would recommend becoming Freddy if you just want some more joy and wonderfulness in your life.”
