Longwood University has always cherished its community and spirit on campus, especially that of the athletic department and spirit groups on campus such as the Lancer Lunatics. But for a while, people felt like there was a key part of every college that Longwood was missing: a university mascot.
That was fulfilled in August 2011 at “The Game 2.0,” when the university introduced “Elwood,” a muscular horse character whose looks and name were voted on by students as well as people in the Farmville community.
“Having a mascot brings a lot to a university. It is an image that is always there,” said Eric Stoller, Athletic Director for Marketing and
Game Operations. “Since I got here seven years ago, there has always been a want for a mascot, and we are glad we could finally make that happen,” he later added.
The athletics department has tried to make sure Elwood is at as many sporting events as possible and gets his face out there to be seen by many.
“It also allows us to relate well to the younger kids in the community,” said Stoller, who went on to say that kids love Elwood because he is basically a big stuffed animal.
Elwood has multiple social media pages, including on Facebook and on Twitter, and is very active on all of them. “It is fun to get the retweets and see both students and people in the community active in communication with Elwood,” said Whitney Curtis, Marketing Assistant for the Athletics Department.
He is always getting tagged in pictures around campus and students often communicate with him on the sites. “Elwood has brought the Longwood community of all ages together and has really helped the athletics department further its reach into the community,” said Brandon Vick, a student athlete here at Longwood.
When Elwood says he is going to be somewhere on a social media site, people show up to see him. “He is more than just a sports mascot, he is a university mascot,” said Stoller. “We get requests for him all the time.”
Stoller also went on to say that Elwood has been a key part of Longwood’s transition into the Big South Conference in 2012. “Every Big South Conference school has a mascot video. It is a big part of school pride in the Big South, so having a mascot is essential,” said Stoller. “One of the conference commissioners even said Elwood was her favorite, so he has done his part in helping us arrive.”
Elwood has also been in the past university marketing videos as well as the Longwood fight song video with faculty and students that was released last fall.
Recently, Elwood was heavilyinvolvedin Longwood’s version of the Internet sensation “Harlem Shake,” which now has close to 12,000 views on YouTube. After not even two years on campus, Elwood has become a superstar who people love to see walking around. Elwood was personally unable to comment, but his actions around campus speak more than enough. “He is a symbol of what we want everybody here to be like. We really want people to be excited when they see Elwood,” said Curtis.
The athletics department has made it very clear that they want and plan to keep getting Elwood out into the community and continue to keep him active, not only in athletics, but community events as well.
“Our next step is developing reading programs where Elwood goes out to local elementary and middle schools and sits with them while someone reads. We want kids growing up and saying, “I want to go to Longwood,” and Elwood is a key tool in helping us accomplish that,” said Stoller.
You can get in touch with Elwood by emailing him at elwood@longwood.edu for events and scheduling.
