The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 12, 2006, Page 15, Image 15
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