Being someone else is a big part of Nick Natario’s life.

Before coming to Syracuse University in the fall of 2004, he worked as Looney Tunes character Foghorn Leghorn in the Six Flags New England theme park. After he graduated, he worked for a local baseball team, the Syracuse Chiefs. He even tried out for Raymond, the mascot for the Tampa Bay Rays.

In between all that, he was Otto the Orange for three years at Syracuse University.

‘My freshman year, when I came here, I really had no desire to play Otto,’ he said. ‘At the end of my freshman year, I saw a flier for auditions. And I thought, ‘All right, well, I’ve done this kind of stuff before,’ and I wanted to find ways to get involved, so I thought, ‘Why not?”

Natario and several other students have personified Otto for game days and special events since Otto was officially instated as SU’s mascot in 1995. As Otto’s 15th anniversary draws near, Natario and others said they couldn’t see the university, or the city, without that fuzzy orange.

Said Julie Walas, the assistant coach of the university’s spirit squad: ‘He’s genuine, he’s innovative, he has his own personality. He brings everyone together for the community of Syracuse.’

Little seed

Before Otto was SU’s main mascot, there were many others that tried filling the ever-changing void.

The Saltine Warrior was the longest-serving mascot at the university and still has a place on campus in the form of several statues. Representing an Indian chief named Big Chief Bill Orange, the warrior stayed until 1978, when a group of American Indian students said the mascot was offensive, according to university archives.

The first orange to represent the college came in 1980. Several names came and went, but in 1990, SU’s cheerleading squad went to a camp in Tennessee, where they voted for Otto over four other names, Walas said. Of the rejected names, Walas cited ‘Opie,’ which was discarded because it rhymed with ‘Dopey.’

Otto was the unofficial mascot for SU until 1995. Kenneth ‘Buzz’ Shaw, former chancellor and current professor at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said the athletic department approached him with an offer about changing the name of the university’s athletic teams.

‘The athletic department wanted to study whether SU should be something other than the Orange,’ he said. ‘I told them it was all right to study it, but any change had to be a slam dunk.’

A committee of university officials was chosen to poll students and alumni about other potential team names and mascots, which included a wolf pack. Shaw said a pack of wolves was all right, but sticking with the orange was better. The committee failed to make the necessary shot.

After receiving feedback from campus polls, everyone agreed with Shaw. The orange stayed. On Dec. 4, 1995, Otto was officially named the mascot of SU. Shaw said Otto had already made too much of an impression on the university to let the orange go.

‘If you live in the area, they love to see the little furry guy,’ he said. ‘He’s non-threatening. He signifies the school color. I think that’s why we wanted to keep him around.’

Growing pains

Otto traveled with the Orange football team to several bowl games. He cheered during the basketball team’s years in the NCAA Tournament. He even saw the Orange win the NCAA national championship in 2003.

But those who played Otto would find that the job was much harder when SU hit losing streaks.

When Natario came in as a freshman, he saw a bowl game during the last year of Paul Pasqualoni’s 13-year stint as head football coach. When newly appointed Athletic Director Daryl Gross hired Greg Robinson as the new head coach, Natario, who had just gotten the position as Otto, said he was blindsided.

‘In my sophomore year, we were 1-10. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to encounter,’ he said.

Natario said several Orange supporters were upset with Otto during the games. Angered fans sent e-mails to the athletic department saying Otto shouldn’t have been playing with props while the football team was losing its fifth game in a row.

These are the most trying times for anyone playing Otto, said Walas, the assistant spirit squad coach.

‘If you look at the last few years, we were struggling, we were having a tough time,’ she said. ‘It was tough to be a fan. We recognized that (the team) could do so much better.’

Otto is the model fan to the people who couldn’t believe in a losing football team, she said. He’s never upset and always wants to get the crowd going. In this, she said, Otto can’t fail.

‘He’s what makes it great to be a Syracuse fan,’ she said.

Full bloom

Since his start in 1995, Otto has made a name for himself across the country.

Natario portrayed Otto in several ESPN commercials. He’s gone to the Capital One All-American Mascot Challenge twice. And when he travels, everyone knows his name — well, at least Otto’s name.

‘You see what the other programs have and what their costumes are like,’ he said. ‘You see how other schools develop their own characters. So when I traveled and saw these different schools, they saw me and said, ‘Oh, we were all excited to see the fruit.”

Laura Holland, an Otto from the spring of 2004 until the spring of 2006, did not travel as much as Natario but felt the same recognition. She said that even though no one can see who’s in the round suit, people are just happy to see Otto.

Holland went to a Halloween benefit for children with cerebral palsy in Syracuse in 2005 and said she cried inside the suit when she met all the kids, who all wanted to see Otto.

‘It was so touching,’ she said. ‘Some of the smaller community events, to be a representation of the university, it was a very fun way to connect with so many people.’

The performance of a sports team can ebb and flow, Natario said, but a mascot is always there. And having such a unique mascot like Otto is what sets SU apart from everyone else, he said.

‘Some schools, you might see a Spartan, you might see an eagle or a warrior,’ he said. ‘There’s a select few that when you see that costume or that character, that you think of that university.’

Natario said he’s finished with mascots for now — he tore a meniscus in his knee from playing characters. But Otto is always with him.

‘He’s tattooed on my leg, on my left thigh,’ he said. ‘He meant so much to me, I want him to be a part of me for the rest of my life.’

smtracey@syr.edu

Published on November 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm