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THE MIX Wednesday, April 12, 2006 —I— —I 1 B M Y —B B ^ JL. - Page 15 Weeklong event to help USC alumna battle leukemia Alexis Arnone THE MIX EDITOR y Hudgins is a recent USC raduate. Five years ago, she received news everyone would dread. She had leukemia. Chronic myeloid leukemia, that is. Hudgins went through various types of experimental drugs before recently receiving more news. She will have a bone marrow transplant June 20 in Houston, Texas. They had found her match. Hudgins has been working at The Salty Nut Cafe in Five Points for a little under a year. She shares a common bond with the manager, Terry Boatwright. “Less than a year ago, I learned that I had breast cancer,” Boatwright said. Boatwright’s best friend, Dawn Darby, held a golf tournament to raise money for both Boatwright and her own daughter, Kristen, who needed a bone marrow transplant. The money raised at the tournament went to take care of medical bills for both of them. “I all of a sudden saw it, and got it,” Boatwright said. “It was amazing support and I felt it.” Special to THE GAMECOCK Ally Hudgins, a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, will have a bone marrow transplant June 20. When Hudgins came in to tell Boatwright of her impending transplant, Boatwright knew the only thing to do was to throw a similar fundraiser to not only help Hudgins, but to get awareness out for bone marrow donors. Hudgins was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority at USC, but Boatwright knew she couldn’t just ask those students to donate money. In late January Kathleen Barber and Emily Whitlock, two girls who also work at the Salty Nut, sat down with Boatwright to hash out a plan of action. Allypalooza was bom. Allypalooza is a weeklong effort that kicks off with a car wash on Saturday in the parking lot of the Salty Nut. All donations will be given to Hudgins and her family. The next event will be a benefit concert held on Thursday, April 20, also at the Salty Nut. The concert will feature local band The Progression, members of Five Way Friday, Bobby Houck and Josh McCaa. There will be a cover charge of $10 and all the tips made that night will be donated toward the bone marrow and blood drive that will be held on the following Saturday at the Blatt P.E. Center. A drawing will be held at the concert with many great prize giveaways. Some of the gifts include movie tickets, a football signed by Steve Spurrier and local restaurant gift certificates. An auction will be held that night where a weekend long stay for two at the Marriot hotel and three or four bottles of wine are to be given to the highest bidder. “Hopefully, the fundraisers will raise enough — money that we can donate all of it toward Ally and her family,” Boatwright said. She has been trying to get corporate sponsors to donate money toward the blood drive, to get as many names as possible g onto the National Bone Marrow Registry. I “We’re trying to get 500 names on the donor | list, which we will need H $25,000 to cover them,” ■ Boatwright said. “It costs H $65 to get each name onto the list.” The main focus of this fundraiser is the blood and bone marrow drive. H ALLY • 16 M Meet Cocky: a guy named Jamie Advertising student reveals identity earlier than usual llathan Rouse THE GAMECOCK Cocky is everywhere. He sends the 80,250 people in Williams-Brice Stadium to their feet in an excited frenzy at every football game. He makes baskets backward from half court. He keeps us all entertained at every sporting event with his nonstop, energetic antics. Seeing all this, it is very hard to imagine that there is a man inside that suit. Jamie Ballentine, a fourth-year advertising student, has been Cocky for the past four years. After an experience as the mascot for his high school, he tried out before even beginning his freshman year and was hired for the position. “I was thrilled,” Ballentine said. “Cocky is a very beloved mascot.” But mascots are not just people inside suits keeping us entertained; they are symbols of team pride and spirit. So it’s a universal tradition for the identity of the man within the mascot to be kept secret. At USC, the secret is normally kept until graduation, when the graduate wears the mascot’s feet across stage. But since Ballentine has been Cocky for four whole years, which is an unusually long period of time, he was revealed earlier than usual. Keeping the secret of his pastime has been quite a task for Ballentine. Being the man behind such a huge part of the university’s image and just another student simultaneously for such a long time has been the defining part of his college experience. “I’ve certainly led two separate lives,” Ballentine said. “You’re the most recognized person on campus and then you take off the suit and you’re just another guy.” Ut/Ul V/ii v/11 L11C. UVlUj being Cocky is a tough job. He appears at almost every home sports event, every away football game, any tournaments played by the basketball, soccer and volleyball teams, and various special events. Like most other students, Ballentine takes fifteen hours every semester. All of the time he puts into being Cocky means time away from classes, making his academic life all the more challenging. And he does this all without being paid; like most students involved in college sports, the man in the suit freely volunteers his time. As everyone who has watched him in action knows, Cocky displays a huge amount of energy at games. He always seems to be doing something and doing it with such spirit that it makes everyone else excited as well. And he displays this energy through the Cocky suit, which is heavy, restrictive and around forty degrees hotter than the outside temperature. “It’s very physically demanding,” Ballentine said. Cocky won the Capital One Mascot of the Year Award in 2003. The prestigious national award was given not only to the mascot, but also to the man portraying him. Ballentine was given a ring as an award for his performance, and now wears it proudly on one hand, with his class ring on the other. “I wanted to go out there and yell ‘That was me!’” he said. Despite all of the hard work and secrecy, Ballentine is not happy to be leaving the position. He described his last appearance in Williams-Brice Stadium during the last Carolina vs. Clemson game with a definite note of sadness. “I’m gonna miss it,” Ballentine said. “It’s all I’ve known for four years.” He won’t be away from the work entirely, however; he plans to make a career out of being a mascot. “I want to take it to the next level, to the professional level,” Ballentine said. “My ultimate goal is to get into COCHV • 16 Courtesy of Jamie Ballentine Jamie Ballentine was hired for the part of Cocky before he began his freshman year at USC and hopes to be a professional mascot for the NBA after graduation. Helloy my name is Lisa Sha First-year pre pharmacy student t WHAT IS SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOUR HOMETOWN? Florence has Cheraw next to it, which is pretty much nothing, but I was born in China and came here when I was six. IF YOU COULD BE A SUPERHERO, WHAT WOULD YOUR NAME BE AND WHAT POWERS WOULD YOU HAVE? Lisa the Almighty Knower, and I would have the power to read everyone’s mind so that I could freak them out. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HCLLO • 16