TAMPA, Fla. — Sports teams use mascots to boost team spirit and energize the fans. They do so, often wearing a costume with a giant cartoon head. That also creates the perfect photo opportunity.
Tod Stutzman has had over 250 such opportunities, which he hopes land him in the Guinness Book of World Records.
“Anybody can go get an autograph from a player, sign a baseball,” Stutzman said. “But how many times do you get a chance to take a picture with the team’s mascot? There is only one of those for every team.”
Stutzman’s mascot mania began in 1992 with a picture with Boomer of the Indiana Pacers. Most of his mascot encounters are snapshots with sports teams, but there is the occasional product mascot.
“I’m driving down the road one day and there’s the Cheeto guy,” he said. “Pull in, let’s go get a picture with the Cheeto guy!”
Does he have a favorite one?
“They’re all fun. I think one of my favorite teams, whether you’re talking about ThunderBug or Raymond, or Stuff the Magic Dragon,” Stutzman said. “I know the hardest one, probably the rarest one I have and that’s the New Orleans Hornet. He was only a Hornet in New Orleans for 6-7 years. Then he moved back to Charlotte and became the Charlotte Hornet.”
Stutzman has done his research and found out there is no such record of what he does best.
“To be the most photographed person with different mascots, whether it be products or sports teams,” he explained. “Living in Florida is the perfect place for that because we have not only the professional sports teams in the Tampa Bay Area, but we have Spring Training, Disney, the Pro Bowl was here, we had the NHL All-Star game.”
He has submitted the official paperwork with Guinness, and now he is waiting.
In the meantime, you know where to find him.
“You go to Guest Services when you first get there and ask, ‘Where is the mascot going to be?’ ‘Oh, top of the third inning he will be up in the kids club.’ I’m like the only adult standing in the kids line trying to get a picture with TC from the Twins or South Paw from the White Sox,” Stutzman said.
“I’m 60-plus years old, and I get to act like a 12-year-old again. It’s fun.”
Charles Black of Tampa coded three times over a multi-week hospital stay following a heart attack in July. Now, he carries the tiny device that helped save his life in a key chain as a reminder that every day is a gift
