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Drew Davis ‘15 featured in The ‘Ville
SPARTY ON! Northville’s Davis completes 4-year run as MSU’s beloved mascot reprinted with permission - The ‘Ville - June 2019 - www.thevillemagazine.com During his four years attending Michigan State University, Northville’s Drew Davis had a pretty unique vantage point of the MSU landscape – through the enormous eyes of Sparty. He is part of a select group of students to play the role of MSU’s buff, fist-pumping mascot well known for firing up fans at Spartan football and basketball games. Over the course of his four years on campus, Davis, 22, served as Sparty at more than 300 events all over the country. It was a dream job for the third generation Spartan, who has always been a huge MSU fan growing up in Northville. One of Drew’s final events as Sparty was traveling to Northville’s Winchester Elementary School as part of March is Reading Month, earlier this spring. He strutted through the same halls he once walked through as a young student, greeting and inspiring today’s students at Winchester. The ‘Ville caught up with Drew, a 2015 Catholic Central grad, to discuss his experiences as Sparty and what the future holds. The ’Ville: How and why did you decide to don the Sparty character? Drew: During my summer orientation, I talked to someone within the Alumni Association (the department that Sparty is under) and asked them about trying out. The person working the orientation table gave me some info and his contact information. That first fall in college, he asked if I was able to help “escort” Sparty (which means to help
Northville native Drew Davis ‘15 (above right) after graduating from MSU, along with the Sparty mascot and Spartan statue on campus in East Lansing. Davis played the role of Sparty for four years, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated (right).
take Sparty to events) and I did that a few times before the application opened up. Once it did, I applied, went through a few interviews, went through a “try-on” process where I got to try the suit on and made sure I wasn’t claustrophobic, and it was still something I wanted to do.
The ’Ville: How many times did you play Sparty? Drew: I was Sparty for over 300 events. I actually have a journal of
Finally, the “try-out” part was about 30 minutes where you are put
every event I did. Most people just see Sparty at athletic events but,
through some scenarios, like dancing with a bride at her wedding or
in reality, that’s only a small portion of what Sparty does. In addition
dealing with drunk fans, then they’ll play some music to make sure
to a lot of awesome athletic events like bowl games and Final Fours,
you can somewhat dance, test your creativity with some props they’ll
I’ve also been to weddings, wedding proposals, hospitals, schools,
have out, and lastly have you perform a skit that you’ve prepared.
parades, retirement/birthday parties, fundraisers and marathons,
All of this is with the suit on while past Spartys and other people
bar mitzvahs, photoshoots, business meetings, tailgates, golf outings,
within the program judge you. I either wowed them with some dance
funerals (yes funerals), and even some miscellaneous events like
moves or they just felt bad for me because I made it. I actually got the
being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, ringing in the Nasdaq closing
email saying I made it while I was in Disney World of all places.
bell, Good Morning America, and commercials to name a few others.
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