Being Sebastian
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – It’s a tradition they couldn’t wait to experience, the moment they knew their friends, classmates and even some family members would learn one of their biggest secrets.
They’d wondered how it would feel to don those yellow feet once again, what it would be like to spell out those five letters one last time – without being in the fluffy, white costume that had helped define each of their student experiences at the University of Miami.
Every expectation was that on May 8, 2020, William Larossa, Ismael Ortiz and Peter Caride would have walked across the stage at commencement and revealed that, for years, they’d each had the opportunity to serve as one of the most iconic mascots in all of college sports: Sebastian the Ibis.
But this academic year will end much differently than Larossa, Ortiz, Caride and their classmates had imagined.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, graduation has been postponed. The moment each had waited for will have to wait a bit longer. The way they imagined they’d say goodbye to Sebastian has changed.
Still, for Larossa, Ortiz and Caride, the memories are special. The stories, unique. The journeys, worth sharing. Here, in their words, what it’s meant to represent the Hurricanes in one of the most invisible, yet visible ways imaginable.
“FOR A LITTLE BIT, YOU GET TO FEEL LIKE A ROCK STAR”
It’s a play, a game and a night William Larossa doesn’t expect he will ever forget.
There were 22 seconds left in the first half and Miami already had a 20-point lead against one of its longtime rivals.
Then, Trajan Bandy intercepted Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book, scored on a 65-yard return and Hard Rock Stadium went wild.
Larossa – in his first football season as Sebastian the Ibis – knew what he had to do.
“I remember running out onto the field and the Sebastian head was literally shaking,” Larossa recalled. “I was about to do a spell out with 65,000 people screaming and all I could think was, ‘I’m 19-years-old. What the heck am I doing out here? I’m a random kid from New Jersey that put on a bird suit and got thrown out here.’ It was absolutely incredible.”
For Larossa, that entire day helped shape his experience as Sebastian the Ibis.
The former high school football player, who’d somewhat stumbled into his new role as a mascot to stay connected to the sport he’d loved playing, was on campus early that morning to serve as Sebastian during ESPN’s College GameDay broadcast.
Then, there was the game itself, a frenzied night many in attendance – including fans and Hurricanes football alums themselves – have likened to games at Miami’s venerable former home, the Orange Bowl.
That experience, exhausting as it may have been, will stay with Larossa.
So, too, will the children’s birthday parties where young Hurricanes fans couldn’t stop asking for more pictures. And the wedding receptions where a bride or groom couldn’t stop smiling because their favorite Bird was in attendance, in black-tie attire, of course.
“I remember earlier this year, as I was starting to kind of wind down and realize that this wasn’t going to last forever, I was at a kid’s birthday party and he was so great. I remember I went in the back and I had an extra glove. I signed the glove for him and gave it to him,” Larossa said. “His face was just … pretty great. Moments like those are very rewarding.”
Rewarding, too, have been the bonds he’s formed with other members of “The Flock,” including both Ismael Ortiz and Peter Caride and former Sebastian Bobby Williams, who graduated last year and created a social media stir with his commencement unveiling.
It was a moment Larossa hoped to experience himself. Now, it will have to wait until perhaps December. But Larossa understands and his four-year experience was still beyond memorable.
“It’s meant the world to me to be Sebastian. It has been my college experience,” Larossa said. “I’ve had a great chance to do a bunch of different things on campus, from homecoming events to employee orientation. There’s no doubt when I look back at my time at The U, being Sebastian will definitely be at the forefront.
“It’s kind of crazy the way this all ended, that my last event ever, I didn’t really have a chance to kind of remember the last picture I took with a fan or anything like that. But, there are so many great memories I have. … I always joke with the flock that when we get the chance to be in stadiums and for a little bit, you get to feel like a rock star. You get all these great moments and adrenaline rushes. And there are so many people who, you know, it’s their dream to see Sebastian in person. It really puts everything in perspective.”
“ONE OF THE BEST DECISIONS I’VE EVER MADE IN MY LIFE.”
Ismael Ortiz grew up in Miami knowing he wanted to be a Hurricane.
Wanting to become Sebastian? That was a whole different matter altogether.
“My freshman year, people were telling me to try out because they saw I was really outgoing and really spirited, but I didn’t really see myself in that role,” Ortiz laughed. “I didn’t know that I could dance. I didn’t really know that I could until after I become Sebastian. But the idea just started gaining traction my sophomore year when I asked a friend of mine, who knew all the school secrets about it. … A couple days later, an actual Sebastian reached out to me and told me it’d be cool if I tried out. He told me all about it … I was back-and-forth about it.”
Three years later, Ortiz can’t imagine his time at Miami without being Sebastian.
He’s had the opportunity to perform with other mascots at various events across South Florida, including both Miami Heat games and Florida Panthers games. He’s thrown out the first pitch at a Marlins game.
And in 2018, he had a front-row seat to one of the biggest comebacks in UM history.
With the Hurricanes facing a 20-point third-quarter deficit against rival Florida State, Ortiz did his best to try and spark a listless, frustrated Hard Rock Stadium crowd.
The mascot wound up getting some help from the likes of former Hurricanes football players Gerald Willis, Lawrence Cager, Michael Pinckney and Jeff Thomas who combined to give Miami one of its most memorable stretches in recent years.
The Hurricanes forced a pair of turnovers, scored twice in the span of 42 seconds and eventually, rallied for a 28-27 win over the Seminoles. And Ortiz reveled in the moment with typical Sebastian swagger.
“I had made a Dora [the Explorer] book bag out of a shoebox to make fun of their turnover book bag from that year and I brought it out and started breaking it. The crowd went nuts. Then we had another turnover and another touchdown,” Ortiz laughed. “I went out to the 50-yard-line, which we try to reserve for really big moments and I remember looking up at the entire stadium and it was just packed. It was such a surreal moment to be standing there and hearing everybody cheering while wearing a Turnover Chain that I made for us. It was honestly one of my favorite memories ever.”
In the months since, Ortiz – like his friends William Larossa and Peter Caride – has donned “The Suit” for all kinds of occasions. He’s changed in some pretty weird places to maintain the secrecy of his identity. And he’s traveled to games and events all across the Atlantic Coast Conference.
But it was his time as Sebastian outside the public spotlight that most impacted the biomedical engineering major who is now set to graduate during a global pandemic,
“I would like to stay in the field of medical research. I feel like that’s a really good way to make a difference,” Ortiz said. “Through Sebastian, as weird as it sounds, I’ve had the opportunity to kind of see a lot of different things through hospital visits and school visits. And with the background I have, I’ve kind of seen it through eyes most people don’t have. … I see the way things are right now with medicine. It’s lopsided in terms of who gets the care, when they get the care and what type of care they get. I’d like to have a hand in kind of changing that in the future, whether that’s through finding new ways to treat different diseases, new ways to diagnose things, bringing down the costs and help whichever ways I can through that route.”
“KEEPING IT A SECRET IS VERY, VERY DIFFICULT”
He uses a side door to get in and out of his house when he’s got The Suit in tow.
And when conversations about sports and mascots or Sebastian inevitably pop up around friends and family, Peter Caride tries to keep a low profile.
The secrets of The Flock, he knows, must be kept under wraps – even when it’s tough.
“The hardest challenge is keeping a secret. I mean, it’s not impossible, but it’s very difficult,” Caride quipped. “People sometimes find out through the grapevine and you can’t always keep track of who does and doesn’t know, so there’s been situations where I’m with my friends and then someone asks me about it and I just kind of give them a look like ‘What are you doing?’ So, yeah, keeping the secret is difficult. I’ve tried.”
Still, as tough as it’s been to hide what’s been one of the more memorable experiences of his college career, Caride is beyond grateful for his time as Sebastian, time that will continue even into the fall since he’s not set to graduate until December.
Though he had the option to keep his identity secret a bit longer, the biomedical engineering major had planned to unveil at May’s commencement exercises because of his friendship with fellow mascots William Larossa and Ismael Ortiz, both of whom will graduate next month.
Everything has changed, for all of them – except their bond. That bond, Caride said, is part of what’s made being Sebastian so special.
“We started this together, so we wanted to reveal together,” Caride said. “Really, my whole junior and senior years, it was Will, Ish, Bobby [Williams] and I. We all got very close and it was all from being Sebastian.”
Like his friends, Caride says there is a particular football game that will define his experience as Sebastian – though his didn’t come at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Both my parents went to Boston College and growing up, we were a huge Boston College family. … I had that one circled before the season started because my parents were dying to go and see me as Seb,” Caride said of Miami’s visit to Chestnut Hill in 2018. “And at that game, I met my girlfriend. She was a cheerleader at the time, so, yeah, that game was pretty special to me.”
In recent weeks, Caride has spent some of his time in quarantine scrolling through Sebastian’s social media feeds and reminiscing about the times he’s gotten to wear The Suit. There have been pictures of him with friends, who have no idea he’s been the man under the feathers. And weddings where he’s been as much the center of attention as the newlyweds.
The stroll down memory lane – and his time as Sebastian – has meant the world to him.
“His attitude, his personality, that’s what makes Seb so special,” Caride said. “He’s very kind and approachable, but at the same time, you wouldn’t want to mess with Seb. He’s intense and energetic and I like to think when I’m Sebastian, that I’m full of energy. You can’t get me to stand still. When you’re in suit, you’re just trying to rile everyone up. You’re Sebastian and that energy just comes to you.”
