At the game, you’ll definitely recognize him, easily spotted in the sea of blue. On the lawn, you’ll see him posing for pictures, people stopping him everywhere he goes. On the court, you’ll watch his every move as he works to get the crowd on its feet. On the mall, he may only be David Roustio, Business sophomore, but on game day he’s the man in the suit: Billy Bluejay.

Roustio said it all started as a joke with friends at the beginning of his freshman year.

“After semi-joking about wanting to try out to be Billy, my friends took every single poster advertising Billy tryouts from all over Kiewit and put them up in my room.”

As captain of the Sports and Spirit squad at De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, Roustio knew what it took to be the man inside the suit.

“You have to be up and active, getting into it with the crowd, never sitting on the sidelines or standing around watching,” Roustio said.

Tryouts to become Billy consist of a sit-down interview to discuss past experience as well as trying on the suit to make sure each person can walk while wearing it.

“It’s really hard to learn how to walk with the feet on at first,” Roustio said, “but if you trip, the key is figuring out how to make it look like a dance move you meant to do.”

Although Billy is responsible for getting the crowd into the game, it’s not all about high energy and exaggerated enthusiasm. While Roustio estimates Billy’s head alone weighs around 7 pounds and the fur-covered suit possibly even more, putting on the suit isn’t the toughest part of Roustio’s job.

“Just getting into the suit makes you sweat. I drink an average of six water bottles per game because otherwise you lose about 5 pounds of water weight while wearing it,” Roustio said.

Besides being hot and sweaty, Roustio admits it’s hard to stay in character when you’re not in the right mind set.

“It’s fun when you want to be Billy, but it’s hard when you’re not into it,” Roustio said. “You still have to act happy and peppy even when you’re not in the mood.”

Being Billy does have its perks, such as a free trip to St. Louis for Arch Madness and some money for tuition.

“You never need a ticket to get into a game. We also get T-shirts and free food,” Roustio said.

Although the costume allows him to act crazy in front of the crowd without being recognized, Roustio was quick to point out the task doesn’t come without embarrassing moments.

“It’s really hard when the only way you can see directly is straight up,” he explained. “I’ve definitely taken out little kids with my knees because I couldn’t see them below me.

“Between the amount of energy you have to bring to each game, as well as spontaneity to keep the crowd going, not everyone is fit to suit up. It’s a lot harder than it looks; only some people can actually do it. You have to be energetic, fun to be around and definitely not worried about what other people think to make the cut and become one of the Billys.”