Shelley’s “Boomer the Russet” gets much-needed costume upgrade

SHELLEY, Idaho (KIFI) - Shelley High School’s mascot costume is getting a much-needed makeover.

“Boomer the Russet” was crowned the second-best mascot in America, according to a 2022 poll by SBLive. Local News 8 had the extremely rare privilege of speaking with the student inside the suit.

Sports mascots rarely do interviews because they cannot show their names or faces until they’ve retired from the role. As a result, Local News 8 had to obscure Boomer’s identity in this story.

The student performer, referred to as “Boomer” in this story, feels the weight of the costume on his shoulders.

"Probably not, but maybe I burn more calories than the actual players,” he said.

But every artist needs a quality canvas, and his has some problems. The Boomer costume is about 15 years old - and it shows. The cloth and foam inside is heavily stained.

“I don't know how it even got stained,” Boomer said, “but it's been like that for the entire time that I've been using it."

The suit is also extremely bulky, and that bulk limits mobility. Boomer needs a second person’s help to get the costume on.

"Right now, all he can do is somersaults. And people have been asking me, 'When is Boomer going to learn a new trick?' And the answer is always, 'Soon.'"

Even when he does somersaults, his headband falls off. So he tried doing cartwheels, but those make the costume’s pants fall off.

Local News 8 asked if it’s easy to be athletic inside the suit.

"After a while, you get used to it pretty well,” Boomer said.

Standing on Shelley’s basketball court, he promptly attempted to make a free throw. His shot missed very wide right. The costume’s pants fell down.

“Never mind,” he admitted.

The lack of proper footwear doesn’t help, either.

"The ones that he had that were made for him actually, like, literally blew up,” Boomer said. “Like, the soles fell out."

So six months ago, Boomer started raising money for a new costume by himself. It’s already halfway through production.

"I am so stoked,” he admitted. “I’m just ready to see this thing."

The new state-of-the-art costume will have built-in fans, gloves made of fabric and not plastic, and zippers instead of Velcro so the costume stays together.

But even if he was stuck with the old suit, he’d still be on the sidelines for every game.

"It's so amazing that I can interact with all of these people, and all these people interact with me,” Boomer said. “It’s like something I'm like, grateful for, as stupid as that sounds."

The new costume is supposed to arrive in less than a month. As for Boomer, he dreams of getting a scholarship to Boise State and becoming the next Buster Bronco.