OU's mascot makeover

Today

This Week

Sports Today

1. Suspect named in cheerleading stun...
2. City police shoot man fleeing arrest
3. At 19, mayor-elect's the pride of...
4. Stillwater mayor accused of sexual...
5. DHS takes 6 Del City kids into custody
6. Maverick oilman Pickens puts $2B...
7. Udoh considers OU, OSU after leaving...
8. Ex-mayor gets 10 years in fatal car...
9. Cowboys flying high; Sooners trying...
10. Officer-involved shooting reported in...

1. Death toll at 6, everyone accounted for
2. Blake hopes to lead another football...
3. Fans favor black and gold colors
4. Three accidents reported in city
5. The story of 3 OU quarterbacks who...
6. Picher storm victim identified; her...
7. Oklahoma City police looking for...
8. Suspect named in cheerleading stun...
9. Family survived, but Picher may not
10. White enjoying life away from spotlight

1. Udoh considers OU, OSU after leaving...
2. Cowboys flying high; Sooners trying...
3. OSU's Ford hires assistant coach
4. Ford adds ex-LSU assistant to staff
5. KU star Darrell Arthur's eligibility...
6. Smith laments loss of another...
7. Having some good neighbors pays off...
8. Bedlam Baseball
9. Dallas Cowboys release ticket prices...
10. Sooners' Big 12 tourney hopes on the...

View More Top Ten Categories...

That's when a link to his Facebook page appeared on an OU message board.

And Gransberg began receiving death threats.

"Who was I? Just a kid trying to get his college paid for,” Gransberg said. "There was just a lot of hostility from a small group of fans. It was scary.”

A student-led initiative in early 2004 sought to replace 20-year-old basketball/wrestling mascot Top Daug with a creature more rooted in Sooner tradition. After considering a pioneer and the Seed Sower from the campus' South Oval, a selection committee settled on the Sooner Schooner.

More specifically, the horses that pull it.

"That was the most obvious choice to everybody,” said OU spirit coordinator Lori Kemmet. "They wanted to use them in tandem just like Boomer and Sooner and named them (that way).”

The committee of donors, administrators, students and athletics staff was pleased with the debut of its new, all-sport mascot in August of 2004.

Fans weren't pleased with the change.

Even taking into account the cartoonish nature of mascots, the first incarnations of Boomer and Sooner hardly resembled horses.

The heads featured spiky red hair, enormous eyes, snarling mouths and pudgy snouts. Before long, the horses had earned the nickname "horse-pigs.”

"That first season, I thought they looked a little bit like a cross between Porky Pig and a donkey or something,” Kemmet said. "They did have an image issue that first season.”

Gransberg even found problems inside the suit.

The head was built around a baseball helmet, limiting movement. And the costume was unbearably hot.

"I made immediate changes to mine,” he said. "I pulled off the eyelashes and loosened the helmet. The mascots are a work in progress.”

Dave Raymond remembers the first Boomer/Sooner.

Analyzing mascots is his job.

"Let's discuss the limitations of creating an animated horse,” said Raymond, creator of the Phillie Phanatic and CEO of character-branding company Raymond Entertainment Group. "Well, they've got hooves so they can't sign autographs. Then they've got a really long head and nose. And they snarl.

"Snarling horses scare kids.”

The redemption of the horse-pigs began in 2006 when Gransberg's Sooner was selected to the Capitol One All-America Mascot Team as one of the top 12 mascots in the country.

Gransberg had sent in a highlight video featuring an updated version of his costume.

This one had a longer snout and smaller eyes. The spiky red hair had been replaced by cream-colored locks. The snarl was dialed down.

"I think one of his signature moves was a backflip,” said Capital One Bowl spokesperson Stephen Schooff. "I remember that specifically. (The team) was designed to celebrate the unsung heroes of college football.”

From death threat-garnering horse-pig to unsung hero of college football in two years.

It was a quick transition for Oklahoma's new mascot.

"You're constantly trying to create that perfect costume that's going to give you the best movement and the best crowd interaction,” Kemmet said. "We're still fairly new. Once we have a mascot that's been around a few decades, we might come across the perfect face, the perfect eyes and the perfect nose.”

Even today, Boomer and Sooner are going through a redesign.

Gransberg, who now coaches the OU mascots, is on the committee charged with making the costumed critters even more fan-friendly.

"The decision has been made,” he said. "We're trying out softer foams and lighter weight material. We're trying to tweak and evolve this into a good mascot. That's why I stay involved.”