Tommy unmasked: First man behind the Trojan armor speaks
Neal Pecchenino was the first to don the suit 10 years ago, and he said it was an unforgettable experience.
By DAVID RENDON
Tommy Trojan, a larger-than-life figure with arched eyebrows, cartoonish muscles and a cheesy grin, is a figure on the court any student is sure to recognize. Though his presence feels natural, it’s only been a little over 10 years since his debut, and a lot has changed since then — including who wears the suit.
In 2013, when trying to find someone who could embody Tommy and raise spirits, a combination of luck and good timing played a hand in Neal Pecchenino, then a senior majoring in business administration, being one of the first to wear the suit.
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“I see a couple of ladies walking out and putting on the back of a golf cart these big plastic trash bags, and out of it I could see just the top of a helmet sticking out of the trash bag,” Pecchenino said. “They said, ‘We just did a fitting, and the suit was made for someone that’s around 6 feet tall. The girl that just tried it on was 5-[foot]-4, and it didn’t quite fit her right.’ I said, ‘I’m 6 feet tall.’”
He was told to go to Galen Center the next day for a fitting, and if all went right, he would be allowed to be Tommy Trojan. But when he showed up at Galen Center, he found he had competition, and that he would have to earn the spot of Tommy or choose to be Traveler, he said.
When Tommy debuted, he wasn’t alone. Standing right alongside him was a cartoonish version of Traveler, the University’s official mascot, wearing a basketball jersey. The idea was for the two to be able to feed off each other’s energies in case audiences didn’t like the mascots, said former Creative Director of Auxiliary Services Sam Carter.
The creation of the mascots stemmed from wanting to find a way to create a sense of school spirit and wanting to create merchandise that would appeal to younger audiences, Carter said. This meant creating plushies, a Funko Pop! and a short-lived comic series that detailed Tommy’s origin all while fighting other Pac-12 mascots. He said that school spirit was “being held hostage,” because USC’s only mascot was a horse that only appeared at football games.
Former Creative Director of Auxiliary Services Sam Carter said the Tommy Trojan and Traveler mascots were created to create a sense of school spirit. (Sam Carter)
According to Associate Athletic Director Jose Eskenazi, each suit would have cost between $8,000 and $10,000 to make.
“I think some people were a little, I don’t know necessarily if put off is the right word, but the Traveler one really didn’t really connect well, I don’t think, and we didn’t really use the Traveler one that much,” Eskenazi said. “And I think over the years they just sort of set him off to pasture.”
Before Carter worked at USC, he was an art director at Disneyland who specialized in designing costumes, so when the time came to design the iconic Tommy Trojan and Traveler, he had the experience and the resources.
“This isn’t the Stanford tree, and it’s really not even the Bruin Bear; this should be Disney quality,” Carter said. “I really think our Tommy Trojan could be at Disneyland, and it wouldn’t look any less than what any other character there would look like.”
Because Pecchenino was older than the other competitors, he got his way and became Tommy Trojan, he said. For that first day, he and Traveler spent hours running around the court, taking pictures and shooting basketballs, and the rest was history.
“I’ll never forget the very first game we introduced the suit at a basketball game,” Pecchenino said. “The response was probably 50/50, and I’m not kidding, like 50% of the fans absolutely loved it. They just thought it was the coolest thing ever. And then the other 50 … kind of hated it. They weren’t into it, weren’t supportive of it at all.”
After a few games, people started to warm up to this cartoonish version of Tommy. They started asking for pictures and started to associate this Tommy with USC. But one of Pecchenino’s favorite things was seeing children’s faces light up as they saw him in costume.
“The effect you have on people when you put the suit on and the weird sort of juxtaposition of anonymity yet infamous nature of wearing the suit,” Pecchenino said. “When you put the suit on, everyone knows who you are — you’re Tommy. The second you take the suit off, and you walk down the hall, you’re just a sweaty guy, and no one knows who you are.”
Tommy Trojan is a role Neal Pecchenino called an honor to play, and he said was an even bigger honor to be in it for its debut game. (Neal Pecchenino)
One of Pecchenino’s most memorable games was the one against UCLA. Galen Center was sold out, the scores were close and he had to perform his heart out in front of 10,000 people.
“I’m dancing and acting like a total idiot, which is just the weirdest thing ever,” Pecchenino said. “Doing things you’d otherwise never do if the helmet were to fall off and they saw me doing it … And just having an absolute blast getting the crowd fired up was my goal. I never stopped moving in that suit.”
Though, not every moment of being Tommy was perfect, Pecchenino said. Because the suit was new, there wasn’t really a protocol for what to do with the suit, and when someone else would use the suit and give it back, it would often come back “disgusting,” he said.
“There were times where I’d go to put the suit on, and the person that was in the suit for the day before for an event or something like that, the suit was still dripping wet,” Pecchenino said. “It was honestly one of the big contributing factors in me stopping [wearing] the suit.”
Pecchenino called being one of the first people to wear the suit an honor, and it was an even bigger honor to be in it for its debut game. It’s an experience he’ll never forget, and he would love to don the suit one more time.
“What everyone’s trying to do when they’re on campus at a school like USC, which is truly a special place, is to have an impact, to leave some sort of a legacy, and to put your mark on such a storied and established place,” Pecchenino said. “And that’s exactly what that experience was to me. It was the exclamation mark at the end of a great period of being a Trojan. I think that’ll be with me forever.”
