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Eagles, Americans mascot turns performance into profit
Kelsey Kruzich / Staff photo -- Seventeen-year-old Brook Cooper is best known to Allenites as Biscuit, the Allen Americans' loveable pup mascot, and Tuffy, the Allen Eagle known for his skills on the stilts. This year, however, he decided to turn his talents into profit, founding a business in which clients can pay for him to appear at their event dressed as one of eight cartoon and kids' show characters.
By Conner Hammett, chammett@starlocalnews.com
On Allen Americans game nights, you may know him as Biscut, the fun-loving canine hockey mascot.
Under the Allen High School stadium's Friday night lights, you may know him as Tuffy, the home-team-rooting, occasionally stilt-sporting eagle.
On any other weekend or at any given birthday party, you might see him in the guise of one of several lovable cartoon and kids' show characters.
An Allen resident for six years, Brook's fondness for halftime shenanigans goes back to his freshman year of high school, when the former Lowery Freshman Center mascot suggested he take the reins as Tuffy, a role he tried out for and landed.
"Seeing the expression on people's faces when you do something funny -- that's the thrill of being the mascot, is seeing the enlightenment on the kids' faces when they see a character they like," he said.
Brook wasn't content with just one role. He became the backup mascot for the Allen Americans for their 2010-11 season, and this season finished his first full-time run as Biscuit.
"Toward the end of the year, a lot of people did start to recognize me as I would walk out," Brook said. "I've had a couple people say 'Oh, see you later, Biscuit,' and I would kind of turn around and then I'd be like, 'Oh I just gave myself away,' because I'm used to responding to that name now."
Lately, Brook has been working to turn his performances into profit.
This year, with help from his father, Don, he launched his own costume company, Dallas Characters. For a fee, Brook will dress up as one of eight larger-than-life cartoon and kids' shows characters -- ranging from Dora the Explorer to Buzz Lightyear -- for birthday parties and other kid-friendly events.
Don helped Brook cover costume purchases and start-up costs with a loan, which both have said is close to being paid off and pushing the business toward making a profit. In its first month, the business earned $700 in revenue and has secured three to four bookings per month since.
The profits from the business will be used to help cover college costs for Brook, who is considering Purdue University.
"My parents didn't want me to have a full-time job where I'd have to work during the week or during school," he said. "This is a good job for me that I can just take time on the weekends to do. If I have something [family-related] going on, if we wanted to plan something, we can just stop what we're doing for a little while here and we can do something with the family. Then when we have some more downtime we can pick it back up again."
Don, who works in business management and ran a small landscaping businesses during his college years, said while he set up the infrastructure and provided the loan, Brook is the one who handles all the bookings and negotiations.
"It's always been a dream of mine to have a business with my kids and leave something for a legacy," Don said. "This has been an enjoyable experience to actually do something that you can take a passion and turn it into a business and do it with your son."
Even with his business responsibilities, Brook isn't ignoring his team-spirit roots. He continues to play both Tuffy and Biscuit, and last weekend he filled in as Tex Hooper, the FC Dallas soccer team mascot.
"That had to have been the most popular mascot I've ever seen," Brook said. "From the minute I walked up to the door to the minute I walked back in the door, I was taking pictures or interacting with the people somehow. It blew my mind how many people wanted to just take pictures with him. It was bigger than the Allen Americans in the way that people reacted to it."
For information and booking, visit: www.DallasCharacters.com.
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