There are only two basic rules for the Brown bear mascot: do not talk and do not reveal your identity.But during their off-hours recently the University's five current mascots offered a look beneath Bruno's fur. They chewed the fat with the promise that they would remain anonymous.
Otherwise, "if too many people knew I was the Brown bear, I would have to quit," warned a senior student from New Jersey.
Last spring a stereo played funk and hip-hop music and she was on.
The 21-year-old from Chicago donned the Brown bear mascot costume and danced around. She performed every possible scenario that she might encounter as a mascot: how to behave with elderly alumni or a group of children, and what to do if a child grabs hold of the fur and refuses to let go.
She was one of many students auditioning for a opportunity to be the mascot this academic year.To improve her chances, the Chicago native even promised that, if chosen, she could ice skate as the bear.
Something worked. She was picked by the group of outgoing mascots to fill Bruno's paws this year.
"What's better than being a big teddy bear? You're everybody's buddy," she said.
There are five mascots this year. They are chosen each spring by the group of outgoing bears to wear the outfit and appear at athletic, alumni and campus events the following year. The current mascots share two costumes and meet regularly to divvy up the list of events to attend.
Some are members of sports teams while others have spent many hours cheering Brown athletes to success from the sidelines. One mascot even has several years' experience performing as various costumed characters at children's birthday parties.
"We all come from completely different backgrounds and just find something quirky in raising excitement as this figure," said the 21-year-old mascot from New York, whose job while in high school was playing Batman, Elmo, Big Bird and Barney at parties. "It's exciting to rally people up."
Students began dressing as mascots in the late 1960s after the University stopped using a live bear at football games. At first the bear suit was rented from a Providence costume shop, but that had its drawbacks. One time the mascot went to pick up the costume for Parents Weekend and it had already been taken out for a Halloween party.
The Bruno outfit has in some recent years been the handiwork of a man who also fashions Princeton's tiger, Columbia's lion, and Fordam's ram.
Peter Chenko has been making costumes for most of his 55 years, learning the skill from parents who once outfitted actors on Broadway and made theatrical props. "For me it was like a big fantasy land growing up," said Chenko of New York City.
When he took over the family company, Chenko Studio, Peter began specializing in producing mascot costumes and now makes about 10 each year. It is tedious work, he said, but "the end result is very gratifying."
He begins with a sketch and from that sculpts a clay model for the mascot's head. Wire is applied over the clay to create a shell from which a mold will be made. The head produced from the mold is painted.
The body suit is then sewn using basic patterns Chenko has in his shop. Ideally the wearer is 6 feet tall, he said. However the Brown bear has at times been as short as 5 feet, 5 inches, said one mascot. The shorter the individual, the more the leg fabric bunches up.
The costumes have changed over the years, becoming lighter in weight with the development of new materials, said Chenko. The outfits now weigh about 25 to 30 pounds, which is a hefty and hot suit to wear, say the mascots.
Each Bruno suit is worn upward of 50 times a year, according to David Zucconi, executive director of the Sports Foundation. The foundation replaces the costumes every three years at a cost of about $2,000.
Once dressed as the Brown bear, the mascot must maintain the silence of a bear, said Zucconi. The mascot can dance, kibitz, cajole and otherwise communicate through gestures, but he or she cannot speak.
"It is actually a little bit scary at first because you don't know how you'll be received or if you'll trip or walk in the wrong place," said the Chicago student. "One thing you do not do is walk in front of the scoreboard."
Each bear has a unique performing style said a 19-year-old mascot from Pennsylvania. "I think every bear has their own patented move - his or her own material."
One mascot said he typically sneaks up on the opposite team's huddle as if spying on the discussion, and motions that he is laughing at the game plans. Another said he drops to his knees when a team is announced and bows his head and hands to them as if to say "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy."
A mascot from New Jersey said he frequently does the "booty wiggle" as the bear - a self-explanatory move. He has not changed his style despite being bombarded with snowballs during one halftime performance at a football game between Brown and Dartmouth. It was the day of the first snowfall last November.
"Five snowballs per second were coming at me," he said. "I was getting hit from all angles."
It is up to the bears to fend for themselves when faced with obstacles - a difficult task because they cannot speak.
When a mascot went to greet E. Gordon Gee as he stepped off the plane to begin his Brown presidency in January, the metal detectors stopped the bear outside the gate. The equipment squealed in protest at something within the costume's head, but the mascot refused to take it off because it would compromise his identity.
Although highly unusual, one bear was even asked to buy a ticket to get into a Brown-Yale football game, said Chris Humm, sports information director. Luckily a Yale student stepped out of the bleachers and bought it for the bear, he said.
"You've got to be part ham as the bear," said Humm. "There are no requirements, but it's as much school spirit as you can muster."
School spirit is what drives them to be the bear, say the mascots.
"It is such an amazing thing to be the Brown bear. You get to be loved by everybody," said the mascot from New Jersey. "We had this dorky pirate mascot in my high school - it's nothing compared to the flair of the Brown bear."
And although there is little recognition for the job because you are required to keep your identity a secret and there is no financial incentive because the mascots are unpaid, "the smiles are just priceless," said the Chicago mascot, referring to young fans.
Even so, sighed the mascot from Pennsylvania, once in a while "you just feel like blurting out to people 'It's me! It's me! I'm the mascot.'"