The man behind the mask: Big Bo
For three years Utah State University student Bo Roundy has lived a double life.
Roundy, a student teacher by day, has been Big Blue by night.
Now, with graduation looming, Roundy is ready to let everyone know who the man behind the mask is.
“It makes me smile inside saying someday they’ll know who I am,” Roundy said. “I hope they’ll say ‘He’s done a good job, I respect him for who he is.'”
Roundy, a Montana native, came to Utah State to play football. But after he separated his shoulder and couldn’t play football anymore, he had to find a new love.
One day walking across campus, Roundy saw a sign for cheerleader tryouts. He decided to try it out and he made it.
After a year of cheering, two important things happened: The Big Blue position opened and he got married.
It all kind of fell into place for Roundy after that and he said it’s funny now that he thinks back about it.
“I moved to Utah State for football,” he said. “I didn’t know a thing about mascoting.”
Even though his college career didn’t go exactly the way he planned, Roundy said he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Growing up, he said he never dreamed or thought about being a mascot. But now after he has done it and knows how much fun it is, he loves it.
“What better honor is there at this university than to be Big Blue?” he said. “For me there is no bigger honor than putting on that suit every day.”
Roundy said he tries to show up to every game at least an hour before it starts. During that time he goes over the game plans and gets ready for the game by drinking lots of fluids.
The Big Blue suit weighs 14 pounds, with most of the weight in the head. Roundy said it can be tough to carry that around during games. He loses 10 pounds every game, mostly in water weight.
But despite the physical effort it takes to be a mascot, Linda Zimmerman, the adviser for the spirit squad, said Roundy performs well every time he puts the suit on.
“Not only in all aspects of his talent and his devotion,” she said. “In three years I don’t think there has ever been one time that he has ever said he can’t do it. No matter what events we schedule him for he rearranges work, family to do the job. He has just been 100 percent.”
“He’s a high quality individual that I think has tremendous abilities,” Randy Spetmen, director of Athletics said. “The reason it comes through so well in the arena is because of his heart. His whole heart is in everything he does.”
Roundy said it has taken him three years to get to the point where he feels confident and comfortable as Big Blue.
“I get nervous and I’m usually very embarrassed in front of crowds,” he said. “Even teaching school makes me really nervous. That’s why I do it, I can be crazy and people don’t know who I am.
“The funny thing is that I’m never scared in the suit. I feel invincible in the suit. I do crazy stuff all the time,” he said.
However, Roundy said being a mascot isn’t all about being crazy and making the crowd laugh. He said sometimes he does crazy stuff like rappelling from the ceiling, but he said the important thing about being a mascot is building relationships with the people that come to the games.
“Bo has probably been one of our very best mascots,” Zimmerman said. “Each has been outstanding in their own way. Bo definitely ranks as one of the very highest ones because of how he is with the general public, with the children.”
Connecting with the children comes easy for Roundy. The father of a 14-month-old son, Roundy has tried to make special connections with young fans and even wrote a children’s book called “My Friend Big Blue.”
Now, with school nearly done and his stint as Big Blue coming to an end, Roundy said he has mixed feelings about letting people know who he is and why he’s never been seen in the stands at basketball games.
Over the years, he said the anonymity has been kind of funny. He is at every game and he starts to recognize some of the fans that come to games. He said he sees them in the stores or on campus and wants to talk to them until he remembers they don’t know who he is.
“I smile a lot to myself,” he said. “I even hear people talking about Big Blue when I’m around. It makes me feel good.”
Roundy said he has a decision to make. For most of his life, his dream was to be a teacher and to work with kids. But he said he now has another dream, that of being a mascot.
“I’ve thought really very seriously about it,” he said. “I’m caught between two dreams. I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and now there is this new dream that I would like to pursue. You get to dress up as an animal at an NBA game. What’s better than that?”
Right now, however, Roundy is working on finishing out the rest of the year and not getting in too much trouble as Big Blue. He said he wants to be the best Big Blue he can be so that “people remember Big Blue not Bo Roundy.”
“Bo is going to be a real hard one to replace,” Zimmerman said.
“We appreciated everything he’s done and wish him the best as he goes on in life,” Spetman said. “He’ll be part of the Aggie family for life. He can’t get rid of us, he’s stuck with us.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Bo Roundy has been the university mascot Big Blue for the last three years. Roundy revealed his identity during Friday´s game against Idaho in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,270 in the Spectrum. (Photo by John Zsiray)
Bo Roundy prepares for his final appearance as Big Blue in the Spectrum Friday. (Photo by John Zsiray)