Interview
We sat down with Jason Carey, a current Purdue Pete, to ask him some questions on his experience representing Purdue University.
When did you start being Purdue Pete?
I started last February, so February 2013.
What made you want to become Pete?
Kind of the whole cliche that I've been a Purdue fan my whole life and I've grown up watching Purdue Pete. My adviser sent me the flyer for the tryout and I said ‘What the heck that’ll be fun’ and it was the best decision ever.
What was the tryout like?
The tryout had a lot of different stations set up. At the first station you go to there is a mix tape of music that is about two and a half minutes long and it’s any genre, like from polka to rap to country. You put the head on and you have to dance and react to whatever’s playing and you don’t get to hear it before so you do it on the fly. Next you go to a physical test which just involves push-ups and sit ups and stuff like that. Then you go to a station with a bunch of props laying on the ground, usually just household items. You get thirty seconds to look at those props and you have to do a minute skit with those props. The fight song is playing while you do it so you have to react to that the whole time and then you go to the next station where someone is yelling out situations like ‘Purdue just made a 3 pointer against IU to win’ or like ‘You’re at a nursing home and there’s a bunch of old ladies there’. You have to react to each situation differently. After that, they make cuts and then you have to come back and interview with six different people. It’s a pretty strenuous interview process. It’s a lot about your personality and things like that.
How much time do you spend in the costume?
For a standard, we usually do about an hour each and then we’ll switch out. We try not to do over an hour each because it does get hot and you do get tired. As far as time commitment goes, we have weightlifting three times a week for an hour. We have a one hour meeting every week with our coach. So those are the basics for every week. Time commitment varies between seasons. If it’s the end of football season and volleyball is going on and basketball is starting you could do anywhere from two to three games a week. You could have a volleyball game which is three or four hours and a basketball game which is two and a half hours and a quarter of a football game which is about an hour for home games. For away games we do the whole game. Other than that, we’ll have our different promotional events which are about an hour long. If they are two hours, we’ll send two Petes or you’ll just take a break. We usually just have one a week. My busiest week I've had was two games and three events but this time of year I’ll have one event a week which isn't bad.
When did you start being Purdue Pete?
I started last February, so February 2013.
What made you want to become Pete?
Kind of the whole cliche that I've been a Purdue fan my whole life and I've grown up watching Purdue Pete. My adviser sent me the flyer for the tryout and I said ‘What the heck that’ll be fun’ and it was the best decision ever.
What was the tryout like?
The tryout had a lot of different stations set up. At the first station you go to there is a mix tape of music that is about two and a half minutes long and it’s any genre, like from polka to rap to country. You put the head on and you have to dance and react to whatever’s playing and you don’t get to hear it before so you do it on the fly. Next you go to a physical test which just involves push-ups and sit ups and stuff like that. Then you go to a station with a bunch of props laying on the ground, usually just household items. You get thirty seconds to look at those props and you have to do a minute skit with those props. The fight song is playing while you do it so you have to react to that the whole time and then you go to the next station where someone is yelling out situations like ‘Purdue just made a 3 pointer against IU to win’ or like ‘You’re at a nursing home and there’s a bunch of old ladies there’. You have to react to each situation differently. After that, they make cuts and then you have to come back and interview with six different people. It’s a pretty strenuous interview process. It’s a lot about your personality and things like that.
How much time do you spend in the costume?
For a standard, we usually do about an hour each and then we’ll switch out. We try not to do over an hour each because it does get hot and you do get tired. As far as time commitment goes, we have weightlifting three times a week for an hour. We have a one hour meeting every week with our coach. So those are the basics for every week. Time commitment varies between seasons. If it’s the end of football season and volleyball is going on and basketball is starting you could do anywhere from two to three games a week. You could have a volleyball game which is three or four hours and a basketball game which is two and a half hours and a quarter of a football game which is about an hour for home games. For away games we do the whole game. Other than that, we’ll have our different promotional events which are about an hour long. If they are two hours, we’ll send two Petes or you’ll just take a break. We usually just have one a week. My busiest week I've had was two games and three events but this time of year I’ll have one event a week which isn't bad.
Is the experience of being Pete what you thought it would be?
Yes and no. The whole being a mascot thing and going to games, getting people pumped up is exciting and really fun. There’s nothing else like it. The thing that surprised me is how close the Purdue Pete network is. All the alumni come and we still get together every year and you meet so many different people. For example, the head of the Department of Agriculture for the State of Indiana used to be a Purdue Pete. It is like a brotherhood so that kind of surprised me how close everybody is.
What kind of emotions do you feel when people cheer for you?
It’s the most exciting thing. There’s nothing better than being in the middle of Mackey Arena with everybody looking at you and you get a sense that you can control how everybody is feeling, and that’s the greatest feeling ever. On the other end of that, if you’re at an away game and there’s nobody that likes you, it’s still really fun because they can’t do anything to you so you kind of just egg that on and that’s really exciting.
How do feel about representing the university?
That’s the best part about it. Essentially we know that we’re the face of the university and that’s a big responsibility to uphold but it’s also a great honor too. And it’s something not many people get to do so it’s a very humbling thing to know that the whole alumni base, and the whole student body, is riding on our shoulders and that’s something cool to be a part of. It’s awesome.
How many Purdue Petes are there?
There’s actually five now. This March we got two new guys. We had three last year and then we bumped it up to five. Most of the years there’s four; four is the average.
Do you guys get a custom head made?
Not exactly. They used to get heads made every year but they’re kind of expensive so they’ve stared passing them down. What I will tell you is we can customize it to whatever we want; some of us have brown eyes, some of us have blue eyes. We all paint our helmets different. My helmet is carbon fiber looking and another guy has the train track design so we can kind of customize it in that way.
What’s your favorite part about being Purdue Pete?
Probably just the honor of being able to represent the whole university and the alumni base is just a cool experience. Every game, even if it’s a volleyball game or a baseball game, they’re all so exciting. Probably my favorite part is the little kids. It’s not surprising that a lot of kids are scared of us but you can be able to get down to their level and get them to come and give you a high five and make them feel comfortable, that’s the best part is seeing them have fun.
How hard is it to see?
It’s not as difficult as you think. It takes some getting used to. At first it’s hard because you don’t have any peripherals and you’re looking through chicken wire essentially, but you get used to it.
Yes and no. The whole being a mascot thing and going to games, getting people pumped up is exciting and really fun. There’s nothing else like it. The thing that surprised me is how close the Purdue Pete network is. All the alumni come and we still get together every year and you meet so many different people. For example, the head of the Department of Agriculture for the State of Indiana used to be a Purdue Pete. It is like a brotherhood so that kind of surprised me how close everybody is.
What kind of emotions do you feel when people cheer for you?
It’s the most exciting thing. There’s nothing better than being in the middle of Mackey Arena with everybody looking at you and you get a sense that you can control how everybody is feeling, and that’s the greatest feeling ever. On the other end of that, if you’re at an away game and there’s nobody that likes you, it’s still really fun because they can’t do anything to you so you kind of just egg that on and that’s really exciting.
How do feel about representing the university?
That’s the best part about it. Essentially we know that we’re the face of the university and that’s a big responsibility to uphold but it’s also a great honor too. And it’s something not many people get to do so it’s a very humbling thing to know that the whole alumni base, and the whole student body, is riding on our shoulders and that’s something cool to be a part of. It’s awesome.
How many Purdue Petes are there?
There’s actually five now. This March we got two new guys. We had three last year and then we bumped it up to five. Most of the years there’s four; four is the average.
Do you guys get a custom head made?
Not exactly. They used to get heads made every year but they’re kind of expensive so they’ve stared passing them down. What I will tell you is we can customize it to whatever we want; some of us have brown eyes, some of us have blue eyes. We all paint our helmets different. My helmet is carbon fiber looking and another guy has the train track design so we can kind of customize it in that way.
What’s your favorite part about being Purdue Pete?
Probably just the honor of being able to represent the whole university and the alumni base is just a cool experience. Every game, even if it’s a volleyball game or a baseball game, they’re all so exciting. Probably my favorite part is the little kids. It’s not surprising that a lot of kids are scared of us but you can be able to get down to their level and get them to come and give you a high five and make them feel comfortable, that’s the best part is seeing them have fun.
How hard is it to see?
It’s not as difficult as you think. It takes some getting used to. At first it’s hard because you don’t have any peripherals and you’re looking through chicken wire essentially, but you get used to it.