Matt Kappler scanned the Moda Center crowd during a timeout in the 2022 NCAA Tournament game. Fans stared back — the vast majority of them rooting for UCLA.
Except they weren’t staring at Kappler. They were looking at Zippy, the University of Akron’s kangaroo mascot, the role Kappler was playing that night as he mentally prepared for an on-court dance-off against UCLA’s mascot. Cue the music: “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO.
“It’s time for me to drum up some excitement. This is what it’s all about.”
He hit the Griddy, alternating heel taps while swinging his arms. Feeling a little rhythm, Kappler capped the performance with his signature move, a split. The crowd of 15,000 fans erupted in Portland, Oregon.
Seconds into the UCLA mascot’s dance, the crowd booed. The Zips eventually lost the postseason game, but Kappler felt he won the dance-off.
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He has plenty of stories like this — and he’s not the only one. UA students have been keeping Zippy’s magic alive since the mascot was “born” in 1953.
“That game will live in infamy and in gratitude for me,” said Kappler, who served as the university’s mascot from 2018 to 2023 while studying sales management.
With respect to president R.J. Nemer, the bubbly, lovable — sometimes sassy and mischievous — kangaroo with a perpetual smile may be the most recognizable figure connected to the university. In 2007, Zippy was named the Capital One Mascot of the Year. And Sports Illustrated ranked Zippy the No. 1 mascot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
“She’ll pull your hat off, or she’ll poke you on one shoulder; she’ll be walking the other way,” said Kappler, who tried out for the mascot role as a senior at Copley High School.
Last fall semester, Zippy made more than 200 appearances, from home football and basketball games to various on-campus and Akron-area events. She’s also appeared at parades, birthday parties and funerals — even serving as a flower girl in a wedding.
On Thursday, the second-ranked Zips will play seventh-ranked Buffalo in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament. Zippy is scheduled to join the Zips at Rocket Arena in downtown Cleveland.
“Zippy has stood the test of time as a positive, welcoming, endurance-focused mascot,” said Michelle Banis, the university’s director of alumni relations and coordinator of the mascot program. “Even through tough times, she just creates this, like, ‘We’re going to get through it, we’re resilient, we’re happy to be here, we’re going to make the most of it, I’m always going to be here’ kind of mentality.”
Last month, Banis said about 15 Akron students tried out to become the next performer under the suit.
The identity of students who portray Zippy remains a secret until they graduate.
Who is Zippy? And why is the University of Akron’s nickname the Zips?
Zippy is a UA freshman studying public relations with no intentions of graduating.
The mascot was first created in the 1950s when students wanted a competitive image to rally behind for athletics. The name “Mr. Zip” was coined after the moniker for UA fans — the “Zippers” — because of Akron’s connection to the rubber industry. Students later decided on a papier-mâché kangaroo mascot.
Over the years, the fanbase’s nickname was shortened to “Zips.”
The Zippy costume evolved, and a pouch was added by the late 1960s. Because only female kangaroos have pouches, Zippy became a young woman — one of America’s few female college mascots.
Every student who becomes Zippy climbs into the hefty outfit, ready to endure internal temperatures that can reach triple digits, Banis said. Students are required to take breaks every 45 minutes to get fresh air; they also wear neck fans and ice packs inside the suit.
Their goal? To be consistent with the character’s mannerisms and go-to movements.
“Zippy is different — she has a different demeanor to her,” Banis said.
Behind-the-scenes at Zippy tryouts
Banis said tryouts are held “American Idol” style: Students don the suit and dance to a song in front of judges.
“We don’t know who they are,” she said, “but we ask them to do different tasks that test their visibility, their endurance in suit, their energy in suit.”
Some of these tasks include pointing out body parts that are in different places than human ones, dancing to UA’s fight song and acting out scenarios such as what they’d do to settle a crying child.
Later, out of the mascot suit, student applicants tell the judges why they want to be Zippy.
Being the mascot boosts students’ confidence
Morganne Neuman, who served as Zippy throughout her student tenure (2020 to 2025), said the mascot role helped her become more confident and outgoing.
“Weirdly enough, you’ll find that a lot of the mascots are also engineering majors,” said Neuman, who studied mechanical engineering. “We’re quieter, and maybe we are goofy and silly, but we’re kind of scared to show it to people.
“But nobody knows it’s you when you’re Zippy … Zippy is doing whatever — it’s not you.”
Being the mascot also gave Neuman a way to bring joy into her college experience as she struggled with her mental health. All she had to do was zip up.
“I would suddenly be in a better mood because I was making other people happy by just being a goofball,” she said.
Now working in manufacturing in South Carolina, her mascot days continue. For fun, she is now the pink flamingo mascot for the Florence Flamingos, a summer collegiate baseball team.
“[Zippy] was my whole world from Day 1,” Neuman said. “If there’s anybody interested in doing mascotting, do it. … It is [an experience] that no one else will ever have.”
Lauren Cohen is a community reporting intern for the Akron Beacon Journal and Signal Akron. The position is funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation, which is a financial supporter of Signal Akron.
