Knightro

Knightro is the mascot for the UCF Knights. Knightro is sometimes seen riding a horse around campus and during football games. Knightro also sometimes uses a custom built car designed and built by Engineering students. [http://news.ucf.edu/UCFnews/index?page=article&id=002400411a428d50103c2675a02006203 UCF Engineering Students Design New Car for Mascot Knightro] ]

Knightro is introduced into sports contests to a heavy metal arrangement of the UCF Chant, which is the central portion of the Fight Song.

History

In 1994 a committee was formed to explore and develop a character mascot that would attend athletics events. A number of drawings were submitted by Trey Gordon. With Linda Gooch, Gordon and SGA commissioned Metropolis Graphics sketch the Knight.

The first costume was made by Costume World out of Pompano Beach. Gordon filled the mascot position during that first season 1994-95. At the start of the 1995-96 season Trey recruited a freshman engineering student named Jay Lovelace to join him. Lovelace would fill the position of Knightro for four more years. In 1996, a new Knightro was created by a Disney character developer, and the female "Glycerin" was added. But after two years the costumes had fallen apart.

In 1998, Dave Minichello, of Wizzards Production, created the molds for the third rendition of Knightro. In 2000, Glycerin was phased out and the glitter finish was added to Knightro's coat. In 2005-2006 a group of senior engineering students as a part of their senior project created a motorized car for Knightro that he rides in parades etc. called the Chariot II.

Today, Knightro is operated by the Team Knightro Mascot Squad (right), which consists of 3-5 students who perform in costume at all home and away football games, men's and women's basketball games, other athletic events, pep rallies, and special events and appearances. The head coach for Team Knightro is Mike Callahan, a former member of Team Knightro.

Knightro also attends summer mascot camp and competes each year in the college mascot national championships. In 2003 and 2004, Knightro placed 10th in the UCA Mascot National Championships. In 1999, he placed sixth and in 1996, Knightro finished fourth.

The mascot has been revised for the 2007 season as part of the "Knights are Coming Home" campaign, where the athletics department dropped "Golden" from the team, released new logos, and opened new on-campus venues (Bright House Networks Stadium and the new UCF Arena). Knightro's look has been updated to closely resemble the new logo, this time with a fully-enclosed helmet.

Mascot National Champions

Knightro competes in the UCA Mascot National Championships each year and has been ranked numerous times. In 1996, he finished fourth and finished sixth in 1999. In 2003 and 2004, Knightro placed 10th place. [http://ucfathletics.cstv.com/trads/ucf-trads-knightro.html Knightro is born] ]

Knightro placed second in EA Sports' fan poll to select the mascot that would grace the cover of the Wii version of NCAA Football 09. EA Sports used the older version of Knightro for the poll and all related material, even though it was held exclusively in 2008, after Knightro's redesign. [ [http://www.easports.com/ncaa09/ NCAA Football 09] Official Website (poll info within website's Flash applet)]

References