By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
The next time you see Bucky Badger at a basketball game or a football game, you might want to look a little closer.
There might be someone in the suit you recognize.
For the past four years, Burlington High School graduate Patrick Smet has enjoyed the celebrity that comes with being one of seven who fill the role of Bucky for the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
It’s not all games, though it is mostly fun. As the public face of the university, Smet has traveled to everything from weddings to funerals in addition to his game-day duties.
“Funerals, I’ve done,” Smet said. “Literally, everything you can imagine.
“It’s a lot more than just the event itself.”
Making the grade
Smet was an athlete himself at Burlington High School, a four-year member of the BHS football team with some time put into tennis and basketball as well.
But he had no illusions about playing sports at Madison, where he went to major in biomedical engineering.
Instead, Smet tried out for the Wisconsin Spirit Squad. The group is comprised of the cheerleading squad, the dance team and, of course, the Bucky Badger mascots.
UW Spirit Squad members are students at the university, and have to carry a minimum of 12 credits per semester and maintain a minimum 2.0 grade-point average.
But to even become one of team members who don the iconic mascot costume is a long process. Smet called the tryout process “extensive.” Three days of various drills to make sure that an applicant can handle the rigors of the position – “If it’s 80 degrees outside, it’s 120 in the suit,” Smet explained – plus a final performance of a skit in front of a panel of judges.
“To this day, it’s probably the hardest interview I’ve done,” said Smet.
Even then, when Smet had to try out as a freshman and sophomore (juniors and seniors who stay make the team by seniority), there were 40 to 50 people who were trying out for only two open spots.
“Obviously, it worked out for me,” Smet said.
Being Bucky
As Bucky, Smet has attended various events staged by alumni. The funeral, for instance, celebrated the deceased’s love of the Badgers.
“The family was a huge Badger family,” Smet explained. “Why not have Bucky there?”
But the highest profile events are, of course, Wisconsin’s athletic events. It’s more than just football and basketball, Smet said. Wrestling, softball and the other sports all have a Bucky presence.
And it’s more than just being at the game. For a home football game, all the Buckys are on deck, attending various pre-game events and tailgate parties. Then, the game-day Buckys need to be at the stadium two hours prior to the game. They stay for the entire game, and Wisconsin’s famed “fifth quarter.” And then there are other related events in the evening.
“It’s an all-day thing,” Smet said.
Only one Bucky travels with the team to away games, joining the team on a chartered flight.
The travel has been the high point of the experience for Smet.
“I’ve traveled probably more than I ever expected to in college,” said Smet, who has been to New York, Los Angeles and Tampa, just to name a few.
He’s also benefitted from some good luck. As a sophomore, the Badgers’ trip to the Final Four in men’s basketball came as a surprise. As a result, since the Bucky slots were scheduled by seniority, everyone took the “sure thing versus something that’s pretty unlikely” – meaning the mascots with more seniority took the preliminary tournament game slots.
As a result, Smet ended up at the Final Four – albeit with a few twists. He came down with food poisoning on the trip, and wasn’t able to eat for the majority of the time he was traveling.
“It was pretty brutal,” Smet said, though he managed to be out on the floor, visit a children’s hospital and enjoy what was “obviously a unique experience.”
The trips that stand out the most are the ones that allowed him to see something more than the game floor.
“Ideally, there’s some free time,” Smet said. “That’s when the trips really stick out.”
The future
Like all student athletes, time on the Spirit Squad comes with an expiration date – four years of eligibility.
Already, Smet is looking forward to his career. He’s accepted a job in the Los Angeles area to work in food engineering.
And yet, he agreed he’ll miss his current job.
“It’s one of those things that has become a huge part of my life,” Smet said. “It won’t be the same. I’ll never have 80,000 people watching me do push-ups.
“I definitely need to graduate sometime,” he added.
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