When Mackenzie Flores first set eyes on Skyler the Skyhawk, she was terrified. From kicking and screaming a few short years ago, the 6-year-old now seeks out Skyler with a wide smile on her face.
That’s the kind of interaction that has made James Young, the man inside the mascot suit of Fort Lewis College, want to keep putting on the Skyler costume for four years.
“It’s never the same twice,” said Young, a senior at FLC. “The first few times I put it on, I was nervous. I hadn’t really figured out how to be a prominent figure in the athletics department the way Skyler now is. I never thought I would be the face of the school. It’s really a lot of fun, and having the kids come up to you and get either really excited or really scared, because those are the only two reactions they ever have, that’s why I do it.”
Young is a 2013 graduate of Bayfield High School. He attended Knox College in Illinois from 2013 to 2016 and then returned to La Plata County to attend FLC, where he studies history.
He was at a 2016 home football game when he saw Skyler on the sidelines. The next time he went to a game, the mascot was gone. That’s when he took matters into his own hands, and he hasn’t relinquished Skyler duties since.
“It was a big football game. We needed somebody,” Young said. “I approached someone within athletics and volunteered to do it. It was as simple as that.”
Young spent two years in an older blue suit that was falling apart. Paint had chipped off the beak. On the inside, Young called it dilapidated.
Skyler was given an upgrade in 2018. The new costume was unveiled at the season opening football game played at Durango High School. It has a more natural hawk look and allows him to wear a football or basketball jersey over the torso. Its muscles are also made of a more breathable material, which allows Young to spend more time in the suit and less time having to disappear to take the head off to rehydrate.
With a clean new look and a committed man beneath the mask, Skyler has become part of the college’s identity.
“Skyler has been an amazing thought partner for me as we continue to improve the college for the students and community,” said FLC second-year president Tom Stritikus. “I think we can say Skyler loves Fort Lewis College more than just about anyone in Durango.”
Skyler is present at every home football and basketball game. He’s also attended soccer and volleyball matches and is asked to make appearances at some school functions. Even during home games during Thanksgiving and winter break, Young attends and gives no less effort even with no students in the stands. He now receives a $3,000 scholarship per school year.
“The hard part is finding people that reliable to be at events,” said Jason Flores, a current assistant athletic director at FLC and former women’s basketball head coach who is also Mackenzie’s father. “Skyler is Fort Lewis. All of the kids see him and know he’s Skyler the Skyhawk. Kids here grow up around it, and my own daughter has gone from running away any time she sees him to now asking every time we are on our way to the game if Skyler is going to be there.
“He does a lot for the school and especially more since Stritikus has been here. He’s awesome and does it for the love of doing it. It’s going to be really hard to find someone as committed as (Young) once he graduates.”
It isn’t all smooth wing-flapping for Young in the Skyler suit. Before kickoff of a 2019 football game, he had to be helped off the field after he suffered a knee injury. He was anguished to miss the game, but he was back in the suit a week later.
“All of a sudden, I was going over my knee and heard it pop and crack,” he said. “Usually when you hear that sound, you automatically think the worse. It being my senior year, I was like, ‘I can’t go out like this. This can’t be the last gasp.’ I did everything I could, seeing trainers and building my strength back in it to get back out there as quick as possible to do what I do for the teams and fans. The most important thing was getting back out there for everybody who comes to the games to see me and the players.”
It was on the basketball floor where Young found a way to make Skyler his own. It’s where he gets the most time to interact with fans, and it’s where he came up with his own signature of riding a longboard around the floor during timeouts. He even has scheduled practice time in the gym so he can rehearse riding the board in the costume.
“I wanted to do something more to give Skyler a little bit of Durango personality he was lacking to that point,” Young said. “Especially with basketball, I wanted to try to make a character of my own in a way that it hadn’t had before.”
Young was part of the cheerleading team at FLC for a few years. His ability to get the older fans as well as the student section fired up for games has helped give FLC basketball one of the best home-court advantages in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Though the coaches and players are focused on the game at hand, they realize the contribution Skyler makes in keeping fans engaged, especially during timeouts.
“James has been really committed over the last four years, and he loves being part of the school and getting the crowd pumped up. He does a great job making sure everybody gets to be part of the Skyhawk family,” FLC cheer coach Lauren Pietrack said. “He’s definitely part of the overall atmosphere of the game, getting people into it, and he’s a pivotal piece of what we all want to do to get the crowd involved in the game.”
Young made one road trip with the FLC basketball team on Feb. 16, 2018. It was a game at Colorado School of Mines when the Orediggers introduced their new mascot, Blaster. After accepting an invitation to that game in Golden, Young got to share the court with several of the state’s famed uniformed mascots from the Colorado Avalanche, Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets and the state’s top colleges.
But the best moment for Young inside the Skyler suit came only a few weeks later when the FLC men’s basketball team beat Westminster College to clinch the regular season conference championship.
“I held the ladder for the players and coaches as they went up to cut down their pieces of the net,” Young said. “Being part of that year’s team, being there in that moment on the court, it was special. Seeing the emotion of the players was the best moment for me.”
A handful of people know the man under the suit. Several have asked Young why he has continued in the role for four years. But for Young, the better question is, why wouldn’t he?
“I can be anyone I want to be in that costume,” he said. “When little kids run up to me and are star-struck, it’s a cool feeling. Having the ability to step out in front of everybody, have people want to interact with me, that’s what I’m here for. The best part of my job is knowing some kids are going to go home and tell their parents they had a good time at the game because I helped them have a good night.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
