The crowd erupts into roars of determination, fists pumping in the air as the Friday night lights gleam. The violent cheering persists as a wave of blue and white comes rushing out of the tunnel, led by a giant man with an oddly shaped head, donning extremely outdated attire. That giant man isn’t a total freak, he’s East high school’s mascot, Martin the Spartan!
For a little history, in the late 1800s, a young boy named Chic who simply carried bats for baseball players became known as the team’s good luck charm. As an 1883 issue of The Sporting Life Magazine puts it, “the players pinned their faith to Chic’s luck-bringing qualities.” Thus, the mascot was born. How East came up with the Spartan is a different story.
“Clear back when the school opened, they had a school wide poll and they pulled all of the incoming high school students,” athletic director Zach Limbach said. “They chose between four pre-determined mascots.”
According to the 1992 Epic Yearbook, “‘Spartans’ won the election with 810 votes, over the next most-popular name ‘Hawks,’ which only received 81 votes. The Spartan was chosen because of his courage and domination, which many students felt represented East.” This Greek theme was distributed in many aspects of the school. For example, East’s iconic blue and white colors shared those of the Greek flag, while other school organizations such as the Epic, the Oracle (that’s us!), the Muse, and the Apollonaires all reflected Greek names with special meanings.
Aside from their shared history with Greece, Martin loves to hang around East’s incredible dance team, the Apollonaires, to show off his dancing skills. However, it’s important to make sure that Martin even knows how to dance, and that he is played by the best mascotter in the student body.
“Before, Martin was kind of housed with the Apollonaires and the cheerleaders, and so those coaches would host tryouts and we’d open it up to the general student population,” Limbach stated. “They put them through some series of how they would interact with kids, other fans, and if they could do any special moves.”
Speaking of moves, that’s one of the most vital parts of mascotting. High fiving, jumping around, and dancing for hours on end is a quite demanding yet meticulous task. Take it from the anonymous mascotter himself.
“You need to be extremely charismatic with your movement and motions,” the Martin mascotter said. “Even if you’re moving big, you look small on the outside, so you should always be going as big as possible so people don’t misread what you’re doing. […] It’s also extremely important to problem solve.”
Playing the mascot certainly isn’t an easy task, especially when it comes to stuffing yourself inside of a poorly ventilated costume on a hot, autumn day. Nonetheless, Martin shows up and makes any dull atmosphere instantly feel alive. No matter where he’s at or who he’s with, his presence makes an impact.
“A memory from Martin would be our freshman year when he came to nationals with us as the dance team,” sophomore Cora Johnson said. “We were with him all the time, and we got to bond a lot. When we went to Disney, he would always ride the rides with us and have fun.”
For decades, mascots have provided a classic essential to school for decades: an uplifting school spirit. It’s safe to say that Martin the Spartan has not given up on that standard, and does not plan to anytime soon.
