What is red, 6 feet 4 inches tall, and known by virtually everyone on campus? Jason Becker, Andrew Klobnock, Meaghan Ryan and Michael Vaughn. Collectively, these four people are Cy the Cyclone. There’s a lot I bet you didn’t know about Cy. You just found out that there are three men and one woman who don the uniform, but have you recognized that Cy’s uniform at the football games this year are brand new? A former Cy donated them. Did you know that there are actually two outfits worn at games? Or that each person is Cy for a quarter of a football game? Or that two people do basketball games? Cy most generally goes unnoticed at sporting events. He blends in with the scenery like the the umpire who stands behind the linebacker at a football game. But did you know that Cy appears at gymnastics meets, volleyball, football, wrestling meets, soccer, basketball – and if Cy isn’t too weary from the year – softball and baseball games? Did you know that Cy was christened in 1954 at the Homecoming game? A bird was chosen as the mascot because the consensus was you “couldn’t stuff a cyclone.” It’s not easy being Cy. In the fall, every Saturday morning Cy goes around to various tailgates and takes some pictures with the organizations or corporations that asked for his furryness to appear. Never, however, does Cy get to partake in the tailgating like so many of his non-mascot friends. These past few weeks have been hot on game day. Quit complaining. Jason Becker describes it as “roast[ing]” inside the big bird. Michael Vaughn said that during his quarter to mascot at 1998’s Nebraska game, he was “just fine” walking around with a t-shirt and shorts on underneath. It snowed throughout the game. Vaughn also remarked that at the Iowa game earlier that year, Hawks fans greeted him with beer cans. As he and the Cyclones left the field that day, victory in toe, Vaughn said he had one irate Hawks fan”flip me off for a half an hour, I swear.” But once you finish your day’s worth of work, being Cy is a different ballgame. You get to patrol the court or field with the only semblance of your former self being the mascot pass attached to your hip. You get to go places that you normally wouldn’t dream of. Last year, Michael Vaughn followed the men’s basketball team all the way through the Elite Eight. All-expenses paid. Talk about fraternizing. Vaughn, who has been Cy for three years, and Becker, who has done it for two, know many mascots throughout the Midwest. (The other two are in their first year of service.) Being Cy can lead to other mascoting gigs. At last year’s basketball home games, Vaughn was the nearly 12-feet tall Pella Windows Pellican. Vaughn may however prefer the cardinal-and-gold to the yellow-and-black of the Pellican. During the halftime of one of last year’s games, the fan that inflates the larger-than-life pelican completely deflated while Vaughn was attempting to bounce up and down on the head of the bird. The pelican dejectedly limped off the court. It’s fun to be Cy. All four current Cy’s tried out (try-outs are held in the spring) because it was recommended to them by friends. When you’re Cy, your buddies can refer to you at parties as the Big-Red-Man-on-Campus. Becker says you then get to hear the standard response of “cool” or “wow.” Meaghan Ryan is a Construction Engineer major; Michael Vaughn, a marketing major; Andrew Klobnock is in pre-med; and Jason Becker is a marketing major. Proving that, to be Cy, birds of an academic feather do not have to flock together.