The Many Lives of Joe Bear

球迷们所熟知的乔熊——在比赛和活动中为人群服务的卡通黑熊吉祥物——第一次出现在1961年的一场篮球比赛的场边. Until then, the Lenoir-Rhyne mascot had been a succession of four live bears, first housed on campus, then in a local zoo, 但自从20世纪20年代乔熊来到校园后，人类和动物的安全标准发生了变化.

1961年秋天，对手学校的恶作剧意外地结束了乔熊四世的生命, 学生自治会集资买了一套熊装，并举行了选举，选出了第一个穿熊装的学生吉祥物, Robert Rowland ’63.

“I was the guinea pig for the Joe Bear mascot,” Rowland told Profile in 2002. Although he had no mascot training or experience, he tackled the role with enthusiasm, doing anything for a laugh. “The more I was out front, the more people looked for Joe Bear to be there.”

As the years passed, elections gave way to auditions, and now students participate on a volunteer basis. Anonymity is now the custom. One thing that hasn’t changed is Joe’s popularity with fans and performers.

“You’re not visible in the bear costume, so it’s all about the character,” said J.J. Self ' 95，一名拍摄学校和体育赛事的摄影师，从1994年到1995年，他获得了乔熊的称号. “You can lose yourself and connect with people. 我不是那种随便和谁都能说话的人，但在熊里我可以成为那样的人.”

That flair for connection, 再加上幽默感和在压力下表现的能力，乔熊的球员们在各种场合都表现出色——从教室到法庭再到讲坛.

“It was always a great thing to bring smiles to people’s faces and make people laugh,” shared the Rev. Mike Shackelford ’89, M.Div. ’97, who served three non-consecutive semesters as Joe from 1987-89. “That’s part of my personality, but playing Joe Bear helped me see it and ask myself, ‘How can I do more of this?’”

IN SERVICE

一项完全不科学的关于扮演乔熊的校友职业的调查显示，牧师是一个普遍选择的职业道路. There are some similarities in the working conditions, after all.

“I was always drawn to ministry, but the thought of working weekends, getting up in front of people every Sunday was intimidating,” shared the Rev. Gerald (Jerry) Nordsiek ’84, M.Div. ’88, who spent many undergraduate weekends in front of crowds. “It’s a little different when you’re in the bear suit. Your inhibitions go away, and you develop a comfort level.”

In his current assignment, Nordsiek serves as pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Tampa, Florida.

“我想我从《全球赌博十大网站》带给我的是你与人联系的那部分, touching lives. 这是你作为吉祥物要做的，也是你作为部长要做的，”他补充道.

Nordsiek first put on the costume when his roommate, the Rev. Craig Bollinger ’84, 在博林格重新设计了乔·贝尔的服装并重新赋予了这个角色活力之后，邀请他分担乔·贝尔的工作. The two were in the Joe Bear rotation from 1980-84. 博林格也于1988年毕业于LTSS，获得神学硕士学位，是夏洛特市路德王教会的首席牧师, North Carolina.

“In ministry, you have to have a light side, 我认为在我35年的职业生涯中，乔·贝尔的持久力就是带给我那种幽默感,” Bollinger said. “我不认为乔·贝尔和事工之间有任何因果关系，因为勒努瓦-雷恩有如此强大的基督教根基，教授和导师都非常关心事工, but connecting with people, making them laugh — that carries over.”

Service as a judge is less common than ministry for past Joe Bears, 但在马文·波普于2001年被任命为北卡罗来纳州地方法院法官，并于2010年被任命为高等法院法官之前, he was elected as Joe Bear in 1967.

“One thing I always remember about being Joe Bear is how much the kids like him, so I always made a point to pay attention to the kids — pictures, high fives, whatever made them happy,” he said. 在他担任法官的23年里，他一直保持着满足他人需求的能力.

“The best thing about being a judge is helping people, and a lot of the time that means putting jurors and defendants at ease in court, making sure they know I’m here to help.”

IN COSTUME

直到1982年，1984年的Joby Giacalone加入了Bollinger和Nordsiek的Joe Bear轮换，并在接下来的40年里一直在表演，Joe Bear的历史上很少有专业的吉祥物. It started with an elaborate prank.

“When I got cut from the baseball team, I decided I wanted to be Joe Bear at the women’s basketball game that evening,” said Giacalone. “My friends and I planned to steal the costume from the closet in Shuford, but we couldn’t get in — not even with a hammer and chisel.”

Giacalone didn’t want to give up, 于是他再次回到现场，遇到了体育信息总监. “He asked if he could help me, and I said, ‘I’m here for the Joe Bear costume.’ He let me in. It was that easy.”

His friends helped him improvise an extended routine involving doctors, nurses and a stretcher made out of a door. “Don’t ask me how we got the medical uniforms. That’s a different story,” Giacalone laughed.

That first impression led to regular appearances. During Giacalone’s tenure on the field, Joe Bear was a nationally ranked mascot, alongside the University of Kentucky Wildcat, Brutus Buckeye from the Ohio State University, 南卡罗莱纳大学的公鸡和西北大学的野猫威利.

When Giacalone graduated and moved to south Florida to start a career in technology, Joe Bear went with him.

“My brother and I went with some friends to a Fort Lauderdale Strikers soccer match. I looked at them and said, ‘I think I’m going to do Joe Bear,” said Giacalone. “I had the costume in my trunk. When I graduated, I raised money to buy a new costume, so I could keep the old one.”

He made it onto the field, improvised a performance, 最终，球队给贾卡龙提供了免费的比赛门票，雇佣了“前锋熊乔”. After two years, Giacalone’s technology career took him to Charlotte, where he also performed for five years as Homer the Dragon for the Charlotte Knights, the local minor league baseball team, 并帮助夏洛特黄蜂队度过了过渡期，以“大黄蜂雨果”的身份完成了1990年的赛季.

Soon after, a few major league teams made offers, including the iconic Philly Phanatic, but Giacalone moved to Denver, where he became the first Dinger the Dinosaur for the Colorado Rockies.

Giacalone retired as a professional mascot when he and his wife relocated again. In a way, 乔·贝尔介绍了这对夫妇——1982年，贾卡龙穿着戏服参加了一场英国足球比赛，当时他向86届的詹妮弗·雷德求助，要她帮他拿安全别针. In 1997 they moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, 他们在那里组建了家庭，贾卡龙塑造了牧羊犬科斯莫这个角色, named after his grandfather.

“I wanted it to be a dog,” said Giacalone. “Everybody loves a dog.”

Cosmo became a staple of Special Olympics events throughout Virginia for 25 years. 贾卡龙在2022年让这个角色退役，但继续在吉祥物世界担任怀廷吉祥物名人堂执行委员会主席, Indiana.

“Being a mascot is a passion. It’s not about like or dislike,” said Giacalone. “I just know when I do it, people smile.”

Giacalone knows his life as a mascot also fed his primary career journey. 他目前是弗吉尼亚大学医疗保健系统信息技术高级主管.

“我在技术领域取得成功的一个原因是，我愿意面对任何情况并解决问题. People ask how I can be so calm under that kind of pressure,” he said. “I tend to approach everything like a mascot appearance, 这意味着我必须为每一种可能发生的事情做好计划，并且仍然能够在接到通知后立即适应.”

ON THE AIR

When George Corell ’69 transferred to Lenoir-Rhyne in winter 1967, 他的兄弟会兄弟们立即提名他为下一个乔熊.

“It might have been a prank on the new guy, but they worked the campus as hard as they could to get me the votes,” Corell shared. “So, I wound up getting the Joe Bear job, and I loved it — talking to the fans who were there, interacting with the mascot for the other team. It really was a delight.”

Corell also poured his energy and humor into hosting a show on campus radio, and when the radio station expanded to offer TV production, Corell brought his show to the small screen.

科雷尔说:“当我毕业时，我在东海岸各地的电视台试镜. “My first job was with an ABC affiliate in Columbia, South Carolina. A year later I moved to an NBC affiliate in Greenville where I anchored the 11:00 news.”

In Greenville, Corell also met his wife Barbara while covering events in the community. He left the station to join a colleague’s new advertising agency, and Barbara went to work for a local modeling agency, which the couple purchased from its founder in 1982.

“We kept the name Millie Lewis because Barbara worked there a long time. Millie gave her a chance in the business,” said Corell.

科雷尔夫妇将米莉·刘易斯模特经纪公司打造成南卡罗来纳最大的模特经纪公司. They work closely with a who’s who of major companies in the Southeast, including Bojangles, Ridgid, Publix and a host of others.

科雷尔分享道:“在结识朋友、参与校园活动方面，乔·贝尔帮了我一把。. “Everything else happened because of that little radio show once a week at LR. One thing led to another.”

THE LEGACY

Wherever the performers go after graduation, Joe Bear leaves his mark and memories.

“I told my daughters growing up, ‘Have something memorable.’ Joe Bear was memorable for me,” laughed Karen Littlecott McGuire ’95, now president of the board of directors for the Green Room Community Theater in Newton, North Carolina, and one of the few female Joe Bears. “我对那段时间最清晰的记忆是，一个孩子在我脱下服装头降温后走进女洗手间，被火星山的吉祥物撞倒，然后他说, ‘Oh! You’re a girl!’”

尽管偶尔会出现尴尬事件，但这个角色还是吸引了麦奎尔对戏剧的热爱. “Getting to perform, it’s a rush. It’s live, so you don’t get a do-over, just like with theater. It’s a fleeting moment, which makes it something you treasure.”

The Rev. Todd Cutter ’96, M.A. ’00, M.Div. ’04, 现在是大学牧师，也是LR属灵生活和基石咨询服务的主任, fondly recalls his time as Joe as a defining part of his college experience.

“Although the suit was hot and smelled awful, 与拉拉队队员一起建立学校精神，娱乐参加者是我大学时代的一大亮点. Sure, I had to run off the field at the first home football game because I almost passed out, but it was still an amazing experience. If I could do it again, I would,” he said.

卡特不太可能需要重新扮演这个角色，因为乔目前由三个学生扮演, with one serving as the primary player. Joe is, after all, a busy bear. However, none of the three players know who the others are, which is part of the fun.

The primary Joe compared the role to being a superhero. “I’m basically Batman because nobody knows who I am, but they know the alter ego. People don’t notice me until I put on the suit. Then everybody is calling ‘Joe! Joe!’”