Freddy and Frieda
Campus: Short Feature
Freddie and Frieda Falcon can trace their lineage at Bowling Green State University back to the 1920's.
On October 28th, 1927, the university officially changed its mascot from the “Normals” to the “Falcons”. The selection was meant to represent the university’s teaching staff - which, like the falcon, was considered small in size but also very strong.
A group put together by the university’s first president, Dr. Homer B. William, selected orange and brown to be the school colors. One of the group's members, a Dr. Leon Winslow, suggested the colors after he had spotted a woman on a trolley in Toledo wearing a fancy top hat with orange and brown feathers. He liked the colors and so recommended them.
It was on January 16th, 1950 at the Bowling Green vs. Ohio University men’s basketball game that a life-size character of Freddie Falcon made its debut. Members of the Fraternity Alpha Phi Omega came up with the idea as a way to raise school spirit on campus. The first person to wear what then was a paper-mache head was Bob Taylor. Along with Freddie’s head Taylor also wore a sweat suit.
Mrs. Freddie Falcon, also known as Frieda, was introduced on February 26th, 1966. 14 years later though, she was renamed as Freddie’s younger sister. At first Frieda was portrayed a male cheerleader, but in 1980 Sue Sheard became the first female to play Frieda.
Each year, twenty to forty students apply to be Freddie and Frieda. The qualifications are extensive: students must obtain a 2.5 GPA, be a full time student, and generally the student is heavily involved in other campus activities. Four students, two male and two female, are ultimately selected in the competition to be Freddie and Frieda for the year.
The work is not easy, either. Students are generally dressed in the mascot outfits for 5-15 hours per week. While being in character body temperatures can climb dangerously high, so the Falcons are required to take a water break about every 30 minutes.
The Freddy and Frieda perform at many different campus events including sports, freshman orientations and O-Reg. They attend all football games, all home men’s and women’s basketball games, all volleyball games and all home hockey games. The Falcons also occasionally put in appearances at non-campus functions, one of their favorites being weddings.
BGSU is one of the few university’s to support both a male and female mascot. One of the benefits to this, according to Kim Novak, the mascots advisor, is that "it shows that men and women enjoy sports". In 2006 the Falcons attended the NCA Cheer camp in Nashville, Tennessee, at Vanderbilt, and Freddie and Frieda were both named, “Best Collegiate Mascot.”
The costumes the Falcons wear have changed over the years. The most recent versions were introduced in 2001, at the BGSU vs. Miami University basketball game. The head is now made of fiberglass with paint and material that resemble feathers, altogether it weighs nearly 15 lbs. Bowling Green jersey shirts and basketball shorts complete the outfit.
The “life” of a given mascot lasts the duration of the school year. The mascots are both “beheaded” during the spring semester at one of the last hockey and basketball games of the season.