Five Mascot-eers

Edited by Jerry Kirshenbaum

June 21, 1993

The hairy creature pictured here is former Arizona State gymnast Bob Woolf, who in his guise as the Phoenix Suns' mascot, the Gorilla, entertained the home crowd at Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals last week by rappelling from the rafters and performing trampoline-powered dunks. As it happens, four other former Sun Devil gymnasts are aping Woolf by also cavorting as highly acrobatic NBA mascots. After Woolf got the Gorilla gig five years ago, his ex-roommate Mike Zerrillo was hired as yr the Charlotte Hornets' Hugo. Soon Paul Linne became the Indiana Pacers' Boomer. Linne, in turn, put in a good word for Jerry Burrell and John Sweeney, now the Houston Rockets' Booster and Seattle Sonics' Squatch, respectively. Says the pioneering Woolf, "My friends say, 'The Gorilla is getting all the credit, and you're still a nobody.' But I don't mind. In my job every day is Halloween."