Go Big Red: Morrison’s Mustang gets new costume, name

MORRISON – Morrison High School’s mascot has a new costume and a new name to go with it.

Big Red, as he is now known, has joined Morrison’s roster in the middle of a number of initiatives to improve school spirit and morale.

Named as the result of a recent elementary school competition, Hadley Vandermyde, a kindergarten student, and Ryan Jomant, a second grader, submitted the winning moniker. Both children received a Morrison T-shirt, a coupon for a free candy bar from the inside concession stand and $20 in Morrison Chamber Bucks as a prize.

But perhaps an equally important prize was getting a visit from the newly named Big Red.

“[It’s] to get the kids excited, since after COVID and online schooling, school spirit has dropped,” Morrison Athletic Boosters President LuEllen Lee said of the reasons behind the enhancements. “It’s a good way to get everybody involved, from elementary all the way up to high school.”

Lee, school registrar Jenna Weets and office manager Laini Houzenga were the driving force behind the mascot’s updates. They agreed that the idea of naming Morrison’s Mustang mascot began when the staff realized they didn’t know their mascot’s name. One of the oldest references to Morrison’s mascot comes from the 1980s. The Boosters said somebody had found a picture of the mascot from that era.

Big Red’s new costume follows an older version that has been around since at least 2011. The women said that at one time, the district had two mascot outfits, one red and the other brown.

Big Red ironically does away with the red version. The Big Red costume depicts a brown horse, although the material itself is surprisingly comfortable. After looking at a lot of companies, the staff settled on a costume made in America.

From all accounts, the costume is “kinda like a giant pajama Snuggie,” the women said.

To clean it, the costume is machine washable and air-dried.

As far as where Big Red will appear, the answer is everywhere. The mascot was in the homecoming parade last week and will be at sports events and everything in between. To peel back the curtains a little bit, the Boosters said they have a list of students who signed up to wear the costume. The person wearing it for the football season went to cheer practice to learn some cheers, so they are trying to keep it to only that person for now.

However, for basketball season and going forward, there will be a lot more opportunities for other kids to wear it.

“Me and Laini want to thank the Boosters for their purchase of the Mustang,” Weets said. “They were really great to work with, and they do a lot to support the kids in the school district. We’re lucky to have them.”

“I think that Jenna and Laini are really working on school spirit, and that was one reason why the Boosters were willing to financially back the mascot,” Lee said.