Buzz wasn't born in a boardroom.

The sneaker-wearing, larger-than-life mascot was the brainchild of an enterprising student, Richie Bland, AP 81.

This fall the yellow jacket in tights turns 25.

Bland sketched a yellow jacket mascot on a bar napkin and he and his roommate found a costume designer at Six Flags who agreed to make the furry yellow jacket for $1,400. Bland was responsible for making sure the bill was paid.

Buzz made his first appearance — a surprise appearance — at a pep rally before the Tennessee game in the fall of 1979.

"This was the first time anybody got to see the costume except one or two people," Bland said. "I just picked a moment and ran across the field."

He was ready to make his football game debut a few weeks later. "I remember I had to be very sneaky that first appearance," Bland said. "I got stopped by security before I could get onto the field. I managed to somehow get away from them and ran straight onto the field."

By the spring of 1980, Bland/Buzz was an official member of the Tech cheerleading squad.

Before he got out of Tech, Bland wanted to ensure that Buzz would continue to fly. He passed the wings on to a friend, Jeff Cooper, HS 85, who filled the sneakers as Tech's second Buzz in 1981-82.

"After doing Buzz, I created the audition process and got judges. I was the one who started the two Buzzes because there was so much to do," Cooper said.

He said the Buzz pass through the stands also began with him. Other beehaviors would come later. "Back then we didn't score very many points, so I didn't do pushups or anything like that."

Because Cooper was the lone Buzz, he rallied the crowds throughout the games — even on the hottest of Atlanta days. But he didn't mind.

"I remember standing in the center of the field when the wave was going around the stadium. Being able to have that view was incredible," he said.

"Buzz is my claim to fame. When people find it out, they think it's the coolest thing in the world."

For John and Mike Kluber, Buzz was a family beesiness.

John Kluber, ME 84, was the first in the suit, from 1982 to '84, followed by brother Mike, EE 87, from 1985 to '87.

"I would definitely say I was the first one to dive over the press table," John said. "I was in the tunnel and it was a big game. I just bolted out of there, got up high and did a dive into a roll. The crowd gets you motivated. There's no fear, no pain."

There was some embarrassment, John said. "We had to go buy our own tights. It's kinda weird for a 21-year-old guy to go and figure out what size tights to buy."

While John has no scars from his Buzz days, Mike does. He messed up his knee doing his signature Buzz move — hurdling the press table.

"My wife (Renee Richard Kluber, Mgt 87) dogs me pretty good about my old mascot injury," said Mike, who also has a scar on his chin, which he split open during the Tip-Off Classic.

Jim Perrin, AE 88, remembers the first time he saw Buzz run across the basketball court and dive over the press table.

He knew that was the student life for him. Perrin tried out and earned the wings, portraying Buzz in 1985-86 and, after a year off to appease a girlfriend, again in 1987-88.

He recalled the physical toll of the job.

"To some of the fans and especially the kids, you're Daffy Duck. The little kids will come up and stomp your feet and hit you in the groin. When they do the overhead pass in the student section, you're completely at the mercy of the three people who have most of your weight on their hands. You'll get groped occasionally, but more often you'll just head off in some random direction. Then a big play will happen and sometimes you'll hit the ground. I probably wasn't dropped more than three or four times in two years, which is pretty good," Perrin said.

He revved up the crowd more than he had intended during his first performance at a basketball game.

"I got up over the press table, but I didn't tuck enough. I was kind of flying like Superman. I ended up landing on my head and skidding to a stop in a headstand with my feet still straight up in the air. The student section went wild. I had no idea what I was doing, but everybody was laughing and slapping me on the back."

There has been only one female Buzz — Susan Davis, Biol 91, currently a trustee for the Georgia Tech Alumni Association.

For Davis, Homecoming 1988 was her shining Buzz moment.

Most people inside the football stadium didn't know that Buzz was a girl — and they didn't care. They were too busy cheering for the beloved yellow jacket chauffeured into the stadium in a limousine as part of the "Buzz for President" theme.

"One of the fun things about being Buzz is you can get away with a lot of stuff you wouldn't normally as a person. I looked up and there was the sunroof. I got a wild hair and climbed out the sunroof and stood on top of the car as it drove onto the field. The fans went wild. It was great," Davis said.

Davis was not scarred by her Buzz days. She credited the mascot with helping her land her first job after getting out of Tech.

"A Tech alum was doing the interview. I think the first thing he said was, ‘Tell me about being Buzz.'"

Jason Baglin still has an appreciation for the Buzz mystique and expressed reservations about going public with the revelation that he portrayed the mascot from 1995 to 1998.

"You want him to be Buzz. You don't want him to be Jason," said Baglin, ISyE 98.

"My close group of friends knew I was Buzz. From a classmate perspective, very few if any knew. I would kind of disappear down a back hall with a giant black bag," he said.

Baglin may have had some difficulty maintaining the shroud of mystery when he broke his heel during a football game in the fall of 1995.

"I did a nine-foot jump from the first row of bleachers and I didn't brace myself properly for the fall," said Baglin, who was out of Buzz commission for more than four weeks.

Eric Taylor took a giant leap for Buzz.

Actually, Taylor, BC 97, took three leaps out of an airplane as the one and only skydiving Buzz.

Taylor was already a member of the Georgia Tech Parachute Club when he landed the role of Buzz in the spring of 1995. To him, it seemed natural that Buzz should fly — except Taylor had never jumped out of a plane wearing a cumbersome costume and restrictive headgear.

In 1996, Buzz glided into the baseball stadium and later at the dedication of a new field. Buzz landed his biggest jump on the 50-yard line at Bobby Dodd Stadium in November 1997 during a nationally televised football game.

"I landed at the 50 and ran into the goalpost. I stayed in the skydiving equipment so that spectators saw Buzz come in under the parachute and knew it wasn't hired help, that it was really Buzz," Taylor said.

Bert Reeves, IM 00, has a picture taken of him when he was just a week old. He's propped against a Georgia Tech pillow. Reeves thinks he was destined to portray Buzz.

"It's almost impossible to describe what it's like to be in the suit and in front of thousands of people," he said. "There are certain aspects that I will always miss."

He knows now that what professor Philip Adler once told him holds true.

"He always called me Buzz, not Bert. He said, ‘Buzz, you don't realize this right now, but the fact that you're Buzz is going to pay dividends for the rest of your life. This is going to set you apart.'"

Kevin Manous, Buzz from the spring of 2000 until May 2003, was conscious of the mascot's body odor.

"When people would complain about how bad it smelled on the outside, I would think, ‘Man, you should smell it on the inside," said Manous, Mgt 03.

"I would take the costume apart, take the foam out of the stinger and wash it in a washing machine. You couldn't do that with the head. I would take that into the shower and use shampoo and conditioner on it. Then I'd hang it to dry in the shower at my fraternity house, Theta Xi. That scared some guys first thing in the morning."

©2004 Georgia Tech Alumni Association