Hurricane Spotlight: John Routh
Dec. 2, 2003
By Tracy Gale
Beat the crowds…Have you started your Holiday shopping?
Coral Gables, Fla. (www.hurricanesports.com) — The 1980s were a golden decade for UM baseball, with the ‘Canes appearing in the College World Series in all but two seasons, winning the title twice.
Along with setting attendance records and introducing batgirls to college baseball, Hurricane legend Coach Ron Fraser also introduced the first full-time mascot dedicated strictly to college baseball: the Miami Maniac.
The man in the Maniac costume, responsible for so many memorable routines, laughs and certainly the first mascot wedding is John Routh.
Routh, a Columbia, SC native, worked as “Cocky” the mascot while an undergraduate at the University of South Carolina. When the ‘Canes played the Gamecocks in 1981, Coach Fraser came away impressed with the crowd-pleasing antics and festive atmosphere that Routh created.
Fraser suggested to South Carolina Coach June Raines that they approach NCAA tournament director Jerry Miles about bringing John to Omaha to work the College World Series. They did and John became the official College World Series mascot for the next 11 years.
“I was really excited to be going out to Omaha,” John remembers. “But of course my mascot costume had to change, since I couldn’t wear my South Carolina jersey. For the first two games I looked like a naked chicken out there! But then the wife of the NCAA tournament chief bought a couple of College World Series sweatshirts at the souvenir stand and sewed them together for me. I wore that for the rest of the College World Series.”
After seeing John perform as “Cocky” in South Carolina, Coach Fraser decided to create a mascot for the UM baseball program. He got together with Jeff Werner, a major Hurricanes donor and lifelong baseball fan, to create the look. Werner, passionate about the Philadelphia Phillies and their mascot, the Philly Fanatic, had input into the design of the lovable Maniac. A costume was ordered and a student was hired to play the Maniac, starting with the 1983 season. Once the costume arrived, Fraser called John and asked him to perform at the Florida State-Miami series, to introduce the character.
“Coach Fraser wanted me to come down and work the FSU-Miami weekend in May of 1982. I was told they were bringing me down so I could show the student they hired some routines and how to work the crowd–things like that. But I remember thinking they might be interested in hiring me, because Rick Remmert, the director of marketing for baseball at the time, made sure I had a rental car and directions to Crandon Park and other places he wanted me to see…things that didn’t have anything to do with my performing at Mark Light Stadium.”
John was right. After the huge weekend series with FSU, John went back to Columbia, graduating that same month with his bachelor’s of arts degree in journalism. A few days later he received a letter from Coach Fraser, offering him a job as the Miami Maniac.
“I had a job offer from the muscular dystrophy association of South Carolina. I was going to go to work for them as a fundraiser. But then I got the offer from Coach Fraser and it wasn’t a hard decision to make: work as a fundraiser for $12,000 per year or move to Miami and be the Maniac!”
John moved to Miami in January of 1983, and joined the athletic department as the assistant director of marketing. He was the Miami Maniac during baseball season and Sebastian the Ibis at football games starting with the 1984 season. He worked all home and away games, and says that away-game crowds were never hostile to him–not even at Notre Dame or FSU.
John created a lot of memorable routines and special events during his ten-year career at UM, including these highlights:
The Miami Maniac Wedding: “When I first came down in 1983, the regular fans would tell me, ‘the Maniac should have a girlfriend.’ It was a good idea but we didn’t develop it until a couple of years later. In 1986 I was attending UM’s annual spring ‘Carni Gras’ festival with pitcher Kevin Ryan and his then-girlfriend, Nancy Vasquez. There was a booth there where you could take pictures. For the wedding picture you had to cross-dress. So Kevin was the bride, Nancy was the groom, and I was a bridesmaid! While we were getting in costume Nancy looked over at me and says, “The Maniac needs to get married.” We started talking ideas and then it really took off.”
Master of Ceremonies was ‘The Very Reverend Rabbi Jay Rokeach’, the Hurricane’s longtime PA announcer. The wacky script for the wedding included batgirls crying over the end of the Maniac’s bachelor days. Among the wedding guests were the ‘who’s who’ of the mascot world, like McDonald’s Hamburgler, McGruff the Crime Dog, Freddy the Flamingo from Hialeah Racetrack, Bud Man and of course Sebastian the Ibis. The wedding, which took place during a nationally televised Sunday night baseball game on ESPN, was a sensation.
The 1988 Winter Olympics: “During the two weeks of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, I did a different event every night out at the Light. I did speed skating. The Ibis and I raced in roller skates around the warning track, and of course I won! I also did figure skating, in this pink flimsy dress. I was supposed to fly into the arms of the umpire but he walked away and I landed with a thud. The crowd loved that! Remember the sensation of those Olympics was this little guy from England–he wanted to be a ski jump champion but he was pitiful? His nickname was Eddie the Eagle. For the last night of the Maniac Winter Olympics, which coincided with a Sunday night game vs. Texas on ESPN, I wanted to do a sendoff of Eddie the Eagle. Field manager Kevin Hardy, Equipment Manager Kevin Bryant and I spent six hours constructing this ramp for me to long jump off of. Former infielder Tom Sacco was in town, and he was in charge of pushing me off of the platform. We rigged up a net from the batting cages and in the 5th inning ESPN carried the Miami Maniac’s long jump live! It worked! I kept falling on my face while we were rehearsing it, but once we did it live I flew off that ramp right into the net! Jay Rokeach played the Olympic theme music and one of the batgirls put a gold medal around my Maniac snout-nose. It was great!
Just as John has some favorite routines and special memories of that time, University of Miami baseball fans have their favorites as well.
Lois Kerr, a Diamond Doll who volunteers in the baseball office, says her favorite Maniac memory was when he streaked during an FSU game. She remembers him pulling off his jersey and running through the infield.
Long-time fan Mario Di Rosa says his favorite routine was when the Maniac would jump on the railing and lead the fans in the ‘C-A-N-E-S!’ cheer.
Former Sugarcane Teri Shields loved the ‘Boy George’ antics of the Maniac. She thought his braids, kimonos and dance moves were a perfect impersonation.
But Chad Kaye, a retired police officer who doesn’t miss a game, couldn’t decide on just one Maniac moment: his favorite routine was the always-popular “Rocky” routine. Chad loved seeing him work the field and then climb up the stairs. However, his all-time favorite Maniac memory was getting selected to play ‘Poppa Maniac’. He got to attend the Maniac Wedding and play a part in a few routines. Chad is proud of the picture of him and John in their costumes which hangs in the baseball offices of the Ron Fraser Building.
In ten seasons as the Maniac Routh says they had to order nine or ten Maniac heads, due to the wear and tear of sixty-plus game seasons. The wear and tear on John was pretty severe, too.
“I broke a couple of fingers one night, tackling a dummy made up as a Florida Gator player! I broke toes and had to have a couple of knee operations from all of the pounding they took.”
During his ten seasons with the ‘Canes John developed a lot of friendships with the players, traveled widely and has a treasure trove of photos and memorabilia. But when asked what he misses about his UM days John says it’s the relationship with the fans.
“The intimacy of the crowd was amazing. I saw the regulars at every home game, I got to know them, I would hug the same ladies every night and rub the bald spots of the same old guys! I literally saw kids grow up at Mark Light. When I started as the Maniac in 1983 they were six or seven years old, and when I left to join the Marlins these same kids were about to start college. There is nothing like the great family atmosphere going to a baseball game at Mark Light Stadium. “
