Ethan Sullivan remembers the one time he thought his alter ego might have gotten him in trouble.
So does his mother.
When he’s suited up as Grizz, the mascot for the Franklin Grizzly Cubs, Sullivan likes to have fun with people. One time, during a basketball game, it seemed for a moment as though he picked the wrong person to mess with.
A young man was in the stands with his parents and his girlfriend, and Grizz — at the parents’ request — went to work. He squeezed himself between the fan and the girlfriend, repeatedly putting his arm around the young lady.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryWhen the game ended, Grizz walked toward the athletics offices to change out of his costume. The young man followed and waited outside for about 10 minutes.
Charlotte Sullivan, Ethan’s mother, thought her son might have a fight on his hands. Luckily, crisis was averted.
"We walked out and he goes, ‘So <em>you’re</em> the mascot!’" she recalled. "And I’m looking at Ethan — and (the fan) goes, ‘Dude, awesome job tonight; I just had to meet you.’"
It’s hard to get mad at someone in a fuzzy bear suit — even harder considering that Ethan Sullivan is disarming enough without it.
<strong>Well suited</strong>
Even from the time he was a young boy, Ethan Sullivan was drawn to mascots. His parents brought him and his siblings to Indianapolis to watch Pacers and Indians games — and it was always difficult to keep Ethan’s attention on the field.
"He was just mesmerized by the mascot," his mother remembered. "He would be watching the mascot and say, ‘Oh man — Dad, Mom, look what this guy’s doing!’ and almost forget about the game."
"It just looked really fun," Ethan added.
So it stood to reason that when Franklin athletics director John Regas was looking for someone to take on the role of Grizz three years ago, Ethan Sullivan — then a freshman — was the one to step forward.
He had never worn a mascot suit before, but once he put it on, Ethan was hooked.
"I get to mess with people and walk around and take a lot of pictures," he said. "Little kids love me — they love the bear."
It wasn’t all fun and games at the beginning. The suit, as one might assume, is pretty hot inside — particularly during August football games. Ethan Sullivan remembers that he almost passed out on a couple of occasions as a freshman, but he has since learned to take some precautions to keep himself cool. He makes sure to hydrate before games and ducks into the concession stand during the action when he needs a short break.
When Ethan was a sophomore, Franklin actually had a couple of other students audition for the role of Grizz, but there was really no competition — Sullivan held on to his spot with ease.
Since then, he and Grizz have all but become one. Sullivan has brought life to the mascot, and it has helped him build his real-life persona in return.
<strong>Out of his shell</strong>
Ethan Sullivan has no left- or right-brain dominance. That rare learning disability can actually be a boon athletically — Ethan is completely ambidextrous — but it has hampered him in the classroom.
With hard work, though, as well as some help from the likes of counselor Cristy Williams, boys soccer coach Tony Harris and Regas, Sullivan has gotten by, and he will graduate on time with his classmates in the spring.
"His disability is pretty significant when it comes to school, but his work ethic overcame it," Harris said.
Ethan’s parents believe that portraying Grizz has contributed to their son’s growth academically and socially. Being the mascot, Charlotte Sullivan said, "has helped Ethan really come out of his shell."
"When I’m in that," Ethan Sullivan added, "I can be funny, be myself."
<strong>Tricks of the trade</strong>
With Sullivan inside of the suit, Grizz has found numerous ways to entertain the crowd at Franklin games. He’s been known to dance, hand out gifts to kids or pretend to pick his nose and wipe it on unsuspecting fans.
Quite often, though, his favorite targets are the officials. Once, Grizz happened upon a referee with no hair and rubbed his head for good luck. Franklin won the game, and Sullivan figured he was on to something.
"The first game, it worked," he recalled. "He wasn’t there the second game, and I was like, ‘Oh crap, now what?’ "
Grizz has become such a hit with Sullivan inside that Franklin’s athletes often have competition for fans’ attention. Much like Ethan himself did when he was little, many of the kids attending Grizzly Cub sporting events have their eyes on the mascot.
"The game’s going on," said Ethan’s dad, Shawn Sullivan, "but you see half the stands are paying attention to what he’s doing. Especially the little kids."
Ethan says the younger children are who he really does this for. He explains that the adults are "fun to mess with, but the little kids don’t want me to stop. They want me to keep having fun with them."
<strong>Changing room</strong>
Ethan Sullivan hopes to keep having fun after his days as Grizz are over. He’s been getting some advice from Trey Mock — better known as Blue, the mascot for the Indianapolis Colts — who has let Sullivan know that there are scholarship opportunities available for college mascots.
"I would love to do it in college because it’d be fun to travel to different states," Ethan said. "I would love to do it full-time."
The mascot he’d most like to emulate? Benny the Bull, who roams courtside at Chicago’s United Center during the NBA season.
Sullivan has studied video of Benny and sees some similarities between that character and himself.
"I just feel like I can be that," he said. "I just really want to have fun and make people laugh."
While the character of Grizz will live on — in a brand-new suit that the Sullivans and the school helped purchase this fall — Ethan’s graduation will still leave a large void at the school.
"He just <em>became</em> Franklin," Harris explained. "He just eats it up. He’s so great to the kids, he’s great to the older people — I could talk about him for hours. He’s just a great kid.
"Overall, he’s just a phenomenal human being."
And one heck of a bear to boot.
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Grizz doesn’t have much company in the area anymore.
Franklin’s mascot, brought to life by senior Ethan Sullivan, is a fan favorite — but many of the other county schools have phased their mascots out.
Whiteland used to have a Warrior mascot, but that was discontinued in recent years during the national blowback on many Native American sports teams. Edinburgh once had a younger child who dressed up as a Lancer, but that child outgrew the costume and has not been replaced.
Center Grove does have an active mascot, but according to athletics director Jon Zwitt, the current "Trojan Man wishes to remain anonymous."
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