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Mountaineer mascot rouses crowd at South Middle

MORGANTOWN - Tuesday's midterm election may have been just hours away, but Reese Allen didn't have to do any politicking the day before at South Middle for the Coolest Dude in School vote.

Nope, the only thing the Mountaineer mascot needed to do on Monday morning - was to show up in the auditorium at the school on East Parkway Drive.

Allen, a West Virginia University mechanical engineering and data science senior from Bridgeport, Harrison County, was there in his trademark buckskin duds to talk about what it means to be one of the Mountain State's more visible residents.

Because when you're the Mountaineer mascot of WVU, he said, you aren't just a costume-clad character on the sidelines at a football game or courtside for basketball.

You're, well, an icon.

At least for the year you get to do it.

You do Read-Aloud events and ride in parades.

You make an appearance at the West Virginia State Fair, while posing for a zillion selfies and yelling "Let's Go!" at the drop of your coonskin cap at other outings.

Said chapeau, for the record, has been christened "Tom," by the person wearing it. More on that.

"The best part of all this is the people," Allen told the auditorium audience. "You get to meet so many good people from across West Virginia and the country."

Allen met the students at South by way of the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative's K-12 Speakers Bureau, which is housed at WVU and uses the auditorium at South for its gatherings.

Educators and entrepreneurs have taken the stage as part of the series, said Lauren Underdonk, a counselor at South who was helping oversee Monday's proceedings.

"This one is for fun because everybody loves the Mountaineer," she said.

"Reese, though, is a serious student who takes his role very seriously. And he really does represent the whole state."

Which includes outings and venues from the aforementioned WVU football to Monday night's university men's basketball home opener against Niagara.

Don't forget the College World Series over the summer in Omaha.

Allen did push-ups with students on stage. He does push-ups at football games every time the Mountaineers find the endzone.

Then he signed maybe a couple autographs (he wanted to do more but time was short) while talking about his signature get-up sans the long rifle - which he's never allowed to bring into a Monongalia County school building.

Oh, and that coonskin cap?

He named it "Tom," and said they're forever buds ... for this season and every WVU sports season to follow, after his career as mascot is over.

All of which prompted an audience question about how the mascot and the adornment made their acquaintance in the first place.

"Was Tom roadkill?" a student asked, raising her hand.

"Uh, no," the mascot replied, smiling.