Everyone on campus knows Blaze. He’s the crazy blue guy with devil horns who’s always messing with you and trying to get you to a game, or he’s the guy you took a picture with at freshman orientation. Everyone knows Blaze, but no one knows who’s behind the mask. Her Campus got the awesome opportunity to interview a man, who in our opinion, was the best Blaze that Stout has had. Give it up for Logan Woller.
Name: Logan Woller
Year Graduated: 2013
Major: Marketing and business education
Hometown: Wausau, WI
HC: When did you start/end your term as Blaze?
LW: I started my Blaze term from mid September 2012 – mid February 2013.
HC: How did you get introduced to the opportunity?
LW: I got back to campus and was debating on getting a part time job. My roommate mentioned that he saw a work-study program posted on the UW-Stout website for the mascot.
HC: What made you interested in taking the job?
LW: I’ve always loved entertaining people and large crowds. In high school, I would lead assemblies and be the guy at football games with the orange cone getting the crowd pumped up. I also was the first mascot at the local credit union, called WESTconsin Credit Union, and I enjoyed messing around with kids and old folks. The last reason [was] that growing up, I heard that one of my friend’s Dad was a mascot when he was in college, and they were really proud of him, talking him up, saying how awesome he was. I wanted people to remember me the same way — for bringing a smile and joy to everyone I interact with.
HC: Was that something you were interested in prior to hearing about the job/had you ever seen yourself being a mascot?
LW: I didn’t plan on doing a job when I got back to campus because I made enough money through my internship during the summer with Southwestern Advantage. It was on my bucket list to be a mascot, so I grabbed the bull by the horns and decided you only live once – let’s go for it.
HC: What was the time commitment?
LW: I worked around 10-15 hours each week at different sporting events. I mostly did football, soccer, hockey, basketball and the occasional photo shoot for incoming freshman students.
HC: What other things, aside from sporting events, did you have to attend?
LW: I would also greet students when they came for campus days, which was for incoming students to tour the campus and different things to prepare them for the upcoming year. Also, to help advertise the sporting events, I would run around downtown Menomonie with a sign telling people about the upcoming events. Also, I would visit local schools to play with the kids and take part in fundraising events to help out the community. Also, I would run around campus going in and out of classes and offices. I probably wasn’t supposed to do that, but I wanted to reach out to as many people as possible and leave memories for them to laugh about. When I was on campus, I would carry a boombox and a cardboard square and challenge people to dance-offs.
HC: Were there things that you had to sacrifice to be Stout’s mascot?
LW: I gave up my free time to learn how to work with the dance team, cheer team, taught myself how to do back flips and attempted to break dance with the mascot suit on. Other than that, I didn’t give up much.
HC: You obviously have to have a ton of energy to keep you going; what did you do to stay energized?
LW: I would drink a lot of water and Gatorade to keep me pumping through everything. I got a lot of my energy from the crowd. If I was making people laugh and smile, it would empower me to keep going. I would get yelled at by my supervisor sometimes to take a break because I would keep going nonstop.
HC: What were the things you had to do to keep your anonymity? Did you tell close friends and family? How did you keep from talking while in character?
LW: My roommates knew right away because they knew I was going to interview for it. I told my family right away because they lived far enough away where people on campus wouldn’t find out. A lot of my close friends found out it was me through my movements and dance moves because they’ve spent enough time around me. The best part was when I had class with students, and I would see them at a game because I would mess with them while I was suited up, and the next time in class, I would ask them about it and get feedback without them knowing it was me. I’m a huge talker, and that’s how I typically got crowds pumped up, so it was a huge switch for me not to speak. To keep from not talking, I would have to use my body to communicate and I would beat box. It’s impossible for me not to make a noise after 10 minutes of silence, so not saying anything for four hours was out of the picture. I would try to get people to rap to my beatboxing, or I would make sound effects.
HC: What was your favorite thing about being the mascot?
LW: My favorite thing was making people, no matter how their day was going, good or bad, smile and take their mind off everything for 30 seconds and enjoy the moment. It’s crazy how one person in a costume with an oversized head can make an impression on anyone, from little kids to 80-year-old people.
HC: How did it feel having everyone watching you? What happened if you made a mistake?
LW: It felt amazing having all the pressure on you and making it happen. I would make mistakes all the time, but no one knew I messed up, or I would just brush it off and keep going because I know I would do something that would cancel out that mistake. For example, when I tripped at a basketball game in front of everyone, and then I made the half-court shot first try in front of the crowd. Or another time when I fell from the top of the pyramid the cheer team would make, and then I beat the dance team in a dance-off (even though they will tell you they won).
HC: What are you doing now?
LW: I’m a campus leader for Southwestern Advantage.
HC: What else were you involved in at Stout?
LW: O-crew leader for incoming freshman, Marketing and Business Education Association, UW-Stout Sales Team, ambassador for MBE program.
HC: How about some funny Blaze stories?
LW: One interesting story when I was suited up was when I went to the Price Commons on south campus, where a majority of the freshman meet. The commons was packed, so I had a lot of entertaining to do, so I got excited and knew I had to do something to impress the crowd. I was handing out candy and messing with people when I came across a girl in a wheel chair. It was her birthday, so I was all excited for her, and I was going to give her a few extra candy bars and try and make her night. Well, she didn’t like the candy I had or she was allergic, I forget exactly, but she didn’t want the candy. In my head, I was thinking it’s this girl’s birthday, she’s in a wheelchair, and you could see her struggling just to break a smile. I knew I had to go big or go home for her, so I was going to try something that I never tried before while suited up. I was able to do a handstand on two chairs and do push-ups while I was balancing on my hands, so I thought I’d give it a try with the suit and head on. Well, it’s difficult to see, and your sense of balance is extremely different with the big head on. So when I did the handstand, I was balancing perfect, [but] as soon as I tried to do push-ups, I lost control and ended up flipping over on to my back, on to the top of a table in front of 100 people. I ended up cutting up both of my shins, which I still have a scar from today, but the good part of the story is that when I looked back at her, she was laughing so hard she was crying. I got my task done but had to encounter a little bit of pain in the process.
Another funny story is when I was roaming around town before a hockey game. I started running around all the establishments (bars) and other places at around 5 p.m. I did that until about 6:30 because the game started at 7:15. I missed my ride to get taken to the hockey arena, which was 2 miles away, so I made the decision that I was going to jog in the suit to the game to get there in time to get the crowd pumped up. In the process, I was exhausted from running around for an hour and a half already, so I started to put my thumb out as a hitchhiker as a joke while I caught my breath. A few cars honked their horns and cheered me on as they drove by, but after about 10 cars zooming by, a car full of sophomore guys pulled over. I couldn’t talk, so I was playing the question game with them, goofing around to let them know I needed a ride to the game. They picked me up and drove to the game, and I showed up in crazy fashion with the music loud, and I jumped out of an old, beat up college car.
Check out Logan as Blaze on YouTube!