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| (above) The Clarion interviewed Zeke Perez about Boone |
by Hannah Gilham
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 [read entire article].
“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 [read entire article].
6 comments:
Boone wasn't designed by some gnome at Walt Disney Studios. He was designed by Walt personally. And we have Willy Schaeffler to thank for it.
We should give some thought to memorializing "the Boones" with a plaque somewhere in Magness. Not a huge expensive deal, but a way to thank the young people who've helped develop and grow school spirit. The bad guys might not like it, of course, but we should thank these youngsters.
Boone gets a shout out on Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom
Every piece of advertising is just another step to reinstating Boone as our Official Mascot.
I always thought then-DU basketball coach Stan Albeck had something to do with the birth of Boone as well....
Good job not showing Zeke's face... keep his identity a secret, just like Superman and KISS did......
I remember Stan trying to pump some sizzle into the basketball program. He put up some "DU doors" for the team to run through prior to games and some other stuff. The problem was a D-1 program that drew flies, in a building unfit to be a warehouse. He may very well have been involved in the creation of Boone. Maybe Stan asked Willy to ask his pal Walt if he couldn't come up a design. I don't know. For sure, Stan wanted to pump up school spirit and get the basketball team out from under the considerable shadow of hockey. And he would have been supportive of just about anything that would help.
You've got to give Stan all the credit in the world. To go from coaching at DU to coaching in the NBA and just shows that if we had been serious about basketball in those days, we probably could have had some success.
Although beating Marquette (with Dean "the dream" Meminger and Al McGuire) like a red-headed step child is surely a fond memory.
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