The past few weeks have seen a flurry of attention regarding the mascot of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors devouring a cheerleader. While the UD Alumni Relations Blog admits that the stunt is pretty cool, we must point out that the “mascot eats a cheerleader” trend started with a University of Delaware alumnus – Robert Boudwin ’97 BE.
Boudwin, who was the first student to appear as YoUDee in 1993, is now Clutch the Bear, the mascot for NBA’s Houston Rockets. And as Clutch, Boudwin has been chowing down on people for years. In fact, Clutch was the first professional mascot to own a costume with cheerleader-devouring capabilities.
Boudwin, the man inside Clutch, was recently interviewed in an article in Maclean’s and he said that Clutch performs the trick about five or six times a year at Rockets games and on the road. He said the first person Clutch ate, in fact, was not a cheerleader, but a child dressed up in the opposing team’s jersey.
Inside the costume, Boudwin wears a power belt with a battery and fan that sucks in air from outside the costume. Clutch’s mouth has a trap door built into it, sealed with a thick piece of Velcro. From inside the costume, Boudwin unlatches the mouth, throws it over the child/cheerleader, lifts the child/cheerleader onto his shoulder and then seals the mouth before too much air is released.
Our only question is how long is it until YoUDee is terrorizing campus by gobbling up unsuspecting undergrads?
Raptor devours cheerleader [macleans.ca]
Cheerleader gets attacked
The Official Home of YoUDee [udel.edu]
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | Boudwin, cheerleaders, Houston Rockets, mascot, YoUDee
