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Photo by G. W. Miller "I honestly believe 'The Phanatic' is our best mascot", says co-designer Wayde Harrison. |
by Ted Silary
Dave Raymond was almost dreading the phone call. In 1976, his first year as a Phillies summer interns under promotions director, Frank Sullivan, he'd hardly had a chance to breathe while helping with the preparations for baseball's All-Star Game.
In 1977... "I sat around most of the day with Frank, reading the newspaper," he says, laughing.
So, in the spring of 1978, he gulped when he walked into his University of Delaware dorm room one day and was told the Phillies were on the phone. But instead of being told his services were no longer needed, he was hit with this:
The Phillies were introducing a mascot. They wanted the personable, even zany Raymond, whose father, Harold "Tubby" Raymond, was (and still is) the football coach at Delaware, to fill the costume.
"My dorm buddies were going crazy," Raymond, now 43, remembers. These people booed Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. They're going to hang you in effigy...And that's when the Phillies win."
Doubts. Dave Raymond had big-time doubts.
When I talked to my parents," he says, "they told me, 'You want the Phillies to think you'd do anything for them, anything to make yourself valuable.' I didn't want them to see me as a clown, oddly enough. I wanted them to see me as a serious employee. Like everybody else, probably, I felt it wasn't going to make it, that the fans wouldn't like it, that we'd be slammed by the media, that we'd have to scrap the idea.
"But at least I'd be the answer to a trivia question." Raymond and "The Phillie Phanatic" became much more: the city's most beloved sports character of the 20th century.
"Isn't he, though?" Bonnie Erickson says sweetly upon hearing those words. Erickson and Wayde Harrison, now married co-owners with Raymond of New York based Acme mascots, were heavy hitters on the design team that created "The Phanatic's" costume for what was then Harrison/Erickson. Erickson had done work for "Muppets" creator Jim Henson, and even had designed "Miss Piggy." When approached by the Phillies, she envisioned much more than a traditional mascot.
"We knew
what we were up against," she says. "The Phillies' fans are loudmouthed,
but they're also loyal. We knew if we gave them something good..."
Says Harrison, "Even though we've done (many) since, I honestly believe
'The Phanatic' is our best mascot. Certainly, it's been the most successful.
We're very, very proud of it. It reinforced what we always thought
a mascot could be - an actual with a head plopped on top."Erickson says Phillies chief Bill Giles was taken aback when he saw "The Phanatic" for the first time.
"Dave bounded into his office. Almost took up the whole room," she says. "Mr. Giles gave it a (lukewarm) 'Uh, huh.'
"We went down to the field. Mr. Giles was worried how Dave would get around the stadium. Dave jumped over the fence and ran up the stands n top of the seats. I said, 'I think he'll be fine."
Then the gates opened.
"People were floored right away," Raymond says. "It was an amazing thing. Especially in Philadelphia."
As a youth, Raymond had been a big fan of Warner Brothers cartoons, The Three Stooges, W. C. Fields and, really, anything or anybody that could make him laugh. He knew from the outset that pleasing the kids would be easy. Merely bounding around the stadium in a funny-looking costume assured that. But to achieve any lasting success, he knew he'd need to reach the adults.
"I'd been a jock my whole life," Raymond says. "Here was my chance to get close to guys I admired, who I wanted to be like. If I could get them laughing at me, I'd be one of the boys. As much as I could, I geared my early stuff to making the players laugh.
"Let's says I'd hear about one of the players being involved in, well, a risqué situation the night before. I'd do something to tease that player, and the fans, even though they didn't know what was going on, would love it."
Raymond worked as "The Phanatic" through the magical 1993 season and then turned over the costume to Tom Burgoyne, a local product (Jenkintown, St. Joseph's Prep, Drexel) who had spent five years as Raymond's backup and occasional sidekick (as mother "Phoebe" or girlfriend "Phyllis"). Burgoyne has done a wonderful job sustaining the lovefest.
Raymond, meanwhile, is filling the dual role with Acme Mascots. He makes about 100 appearances a year as "Sport" at various events and is otherwise developing new characters and projects.
So, does he miss Phanaticsville?
"I don't have any regrets," he says. "I kind of had 'Phanatic' on autopilot. I mean, I still put pressure on myself to be entertaining and come up with new stuff, but when I was tired, I could do the same-old, same-old and people would laugh.
"I do miss the people with the Phillies. I also miss being able to pretend I was a celebrity. My favorite line now is, 'I used to be somebody.' Since I quit being 'The Phanatic,' I haven't had anybody ring my phone for a Pine Valley tee time."
He's probably too busy anyway, what with work and marriage and taking care of his son, Kyle, 9, and daughter, Madison, almost 2, and awaiting the arrival of another child.
"That's one of the cute stories, what happened with Kyle," He says. "When I decided to stop being 'The Phanatic,' I had to find a way to gently break the news. He was OK. He understood"
Sort of.
Until he asked, "Will you still be my daddy?"
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