Under the stands of the Carrier Dome, the coach of the Syracuse University mascot team fought back tears as she hugged three seniors on Monday night.

It was the last men’s basketball game at the Carrier Dome that Jeff Kurkjian, Kyle Fenton and Andy Pregler would work with coach Julie Walas-Huynh as the beloved SU mascot, Otto the Orange.

“It’s definitely surreal to watch these guys grow up over time. They have done a lot of growing up. I am so proud of them, and all of them have done great things for this team,” said Walas-Huynh. “They have become like brothers to each other, but they also have become really great men.”
Kurkjian, Fenton and Pregler are the co-captains of the mascot team, and Monday marked the last home basketball game where they would be able to wear the iconic Otto suit.

Throughout the night the three seniors stressed how it wasn’t about them — it was about Otto. Through their experiences, the trio of captains has strived to embody what it means to be SU’s mascot.
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Kurkjian traveled with the SU men’s basketball team to the ACC tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina last spring.
Before the game began, Otto, along with the other ACC mascots, went to a children’s hospital. They visited kids who were either terminally ill or recovering.

Kurkjian said most of the children were fans of the University of North Carolina and other schools in the area. But as he walked down the hallway he heard a voice call out, “Mr. Syracuse, Mr. Syracuse.” He said he thought the boy was going to yell and say “Go Duke,” as many of them did that day.

“But he says, ‘Come over here,’ and he’s in a wheel chair. He’s probably 8 years old,” Kurkjian said. “He says, ‘I’m the biggest Syracuse fan, and everyone here likes Duke, and I hate Duke.’”

Kurkjian said the boy talked to Otto like he knew him his entire life. They threw a small basketball back and forth, and Kurkjian did all of the iconic Otto moves — spinning, rolling and being generally mischievous.

The child’s parents were in awe and told Otto’s handler that this was the most active they had seen their son in three months. As the mascots were leaving, the boy grabbed onto Otto and said, “Otto, can you just stay and watch the game with me tonight? Because I wouldn’t want anyone else to watch Syracuse with than you.”

“And I lost it, I mean lost it. I went around the corner and bawled my eyes out — it was so emotional,” Kurkjian said. “Because I realized how beautiful this is. It really is not about the places I’ve been, but about the faces that I’ve seen when I’ve been there.”

At the beginning of his sophomore year, Fenton, an information management and technology major, said he had a lot of personal issues he needed to fix. He said being a part of this team taught him commitment, allowing him to mature.

“It’s so awesome being part of something bigger than yourself — I mean, knowing we represent the university, the community, potentially New York state,” Fenton said. “We are New York’s college team. We are the symbol.”

Fenton also said he has learned so much about bringing an icon to life that he has lost his sense of individuality.

A black and white Otto now marks his left shoulder. Last year, while trying to think of a way to chronicle his time as Otto the Orange, he decided to get a tattoo of the iconic mascot. The orange looks like he is bursting through his skin and is wearing his general helmet.

“I am going to be satisfied with it. I will love it when I’m 80, I will love it when I’m in the ground. I love it wherever life takes me,” Fenton said of the tattoo. “Nowhere ever will I regret that, because he was such an integral part of my life.”

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Jane Pregler supports her son by going to games at the Carrier Dome and wearing a large button with him in uniform for everyone to see.
“She made one of those giant buttons with me in the Otto suit, so when she goes to the games people go, ‘Oh you must really be a big Otto fan,’” said Andy Pregler, a broadcast and digital journalism major. “She keeps it a secret now, but she’s really pumped to be able to go, ‘My son is Otto.’”

Pregler’s family drove three and a half hours from Erie, Pennsylvania to see Pregler wear the suit for the last time at the Carrier Dome on Monday. Jane Pregler said it is bittersweet seeing her son perform at his last basketball game.

“Putting the suit on is always a very bipolar experience,” said Pregler, who has been Otto since his freshman year. “I am Andy right now, but the moment I cannot see anything, and I can only see out of the little S, I am therefore Otto.”

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All three seniors gathered with their friends and families at the end of the night to take pictures on the court, running from one photo to the next and exchanging hugs. Kurkjian said it wasn’t about his last time in suit — it was about the fans and about the happiness Otto brings.

“I am just proud to say that I represented the university and gave my all of four years for this team, for this program, for athletics and for spirit and for everything,” Kurkjian said.