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By SCOTT PURKS, Times Staff WriterA weekly snapshot of the people and places that make Friday night football a special event
The only time Spencer Shick has ever had a big head is on Friday nights during football season.
Or rather, he has been inside a big head.
A big, hot, panther head.
"It has a strap on it that cuts into my chin," the senior said. "I need halftime to get some energy back. That head is heavy."
But don't get Shick wrong, he loves being "Plant's Panther," a fact that shows in every - usually funny - move.
See him dance to pounding drums behind dancing cheerleaders.
See him sneak behind an opposing school's band member and scare the fool out of them.
See him plop down on stadium steps as six kids pull his ears and pile on top.
See him ...
"Hug a pretty girl sitting next to her boyfriend," he said. "Sometimes I'll shove the boyfriend aside. They always laugh."
An ironic thing about Shick, said Susan Phelan, the cheerleading coach and legal guardian to the Panther costume, is Shick is a kid who doesn't attract attention to himself.
"You might think that the mascot would be the class clown type," said Phelan, who taught Shick advanced freshman and sophomore English. "But Spencer was nothing like that in my class. He was quiet and polite."
Because of this, Phelan said she was "a little surprised" when Shick applied (against four others) to get inside the Panther.
"But I did trust him to do a good job," Phelan said. "And after that all I did was give him the costume and turn him loose. He was fantastic from the start."
Then again the success shouldn't be much of a surprise. Shick, after all, plays guitar in a band, sings solos for the school choir (Phantom of the Opera no less) and was Danny Zuko in the school's recently sold out performance of Grease, which received standing ovations.
Funny thing is, Shick, who takes five advance placement courses and has a 5.4 GPA, plans to study finance, "or something mathematically like that," in college.
More performing?
More mascot?
"I wouldn't rule that out either," he said.
And chuckled.