Celebrating 100 years with MSU Texas: Maverick The Mustang

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - News Channel 6 is celebrating a century with Midwestern State University, and we’re continuing our tribute to the university’s past, present and future with a look into the life of an MSU staple, Maverick T. Mustang.

Maverick has been the MSU Texas mascot since 2006, and you can usually find him cheering at sporting events, walking around campus or helping out in the community.

“Putting on the costume changes a lot,” Maverick said. “You can do a lot more when you’re inside this costume because nobody knows who you are. You can have fun, you can dance, you can do whatever. And the best part is no one is going to judge you for dancing because they’re just going to think it’s funny that Maverick is dancing. You can live it up a lot more than you could if you were just a normal college kid.”

While everyone knows Maverick The Mustang, the person under the mask remains a closely guarded secret.

“It’s kind of hard because your friends will ask where you are, they’ll ask you if you’re Maverick, they’ll ask a lot of different things,” Maverick said. “It’s really hard to defer their questions, but it’s pretty easy to come up with reasons why you weren’t around or why you were gone that day. It’s fun.”

“My favorite thing has been the height differences because we’re all different heights,” Maverick said. “People will be like ‘hey Maverick was 6 feet tall, why is he 5 foot 7?’ It’s just fun to switch around and see everyone’s faces as they try to guess who is inside it.”

But the change is worth it, especially because when you’re Maverick in the Texas heat, you need time to cool down.

“The only thing that is sometimes rough about it is that if I do it for an hour and I switch out with somebody else, obviously Maverick is going to be a little more warm and wet than he would be if it were not that case,” Maverick said.

And while Maverick loves to bring a smile to people’s faces, he also likes to bring home awards. In January, Maverick is off to nationals with the cheer team for the first time.

“Last year, we saw that the other universities brought their mascots, so we thought it would be fun to incorporate it this year, so this will be my first year going to nationals with the cheer team,” Maverick said.

And while he’s been busy in the community, he even paid a visit to the News Channel 6 newsroom.

“There’s a lot of fun things about being Maverick,” Maverick said. “Not only do you get to have fun with students at MSU, you get to represent the university at a lot of different events, you get to take photos. I often catch myself like smiling even though no one can see my face when you’re taking photos.”

“It’s just so much fun to give back to the community,” Maverick said. “Wichita Falls is a great town. I mean, MSU has been here a 100 years. It’s just been great to give back to the community in a way that they appreciate. It’s just great to represent the university in a way that most people can’t, so it’s just been a fun time.”

“I’ve never talked inside of the costume, so it’s really odd to be talking right now,” Maverick said. “It almost feels like it’s wrong, but it has to be done.”

All MSU Texas centennial celebration stories can be found by clicking here.

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