The fur flys off

Eric M. Jukelevics Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Wilbur Mascot Kirk Sibley proudly comes out as the man behind Wilbur. Kirk will graduate in May after being Wilbur for the last three years.

Only a handful of people knew up until the UCLA men's basketball game earlier this month, when the cat was finally let out of the bag.

MIS senior Kirk Sibley, enticed by a free trip to Hawaii and the prospects of one of the most successful years in Arizona athletics, returned for an extra year to play Wilbur. One of the longest-running mascots in school history and one of its best, Sibley is finding it hard to let go of the furry suit and mask.

He became one of two Wilburs in the fall of 1996, and appeared in about 20 football and 40 basketball games during his career. Spending weekends away from school made some of his friends suspicious of what he was doing, so whenever he could, Sibley tried to get his friends in on the act.

For instance, if anyone saw Wilbur beating up a fake California Golden Bear in 1997, it was actually Sibley beating up one of his friends.

"What made me happiest was when I used my Wilbur position to get my friends into games or get them a T-shirt or something," he said. "It was a lot more fun trying to get my friends involved."

Nobody was safe from Wilbur, who would jump at the opportunity to soak somebody with a super-soaker during a hot football game or cover them with silly string after an Arizona touchdown.

"The best thing about doing it is that you could go out and do whatever you want," Sibley said. "You could mess with classmates and then sit next to them in class the next day, and they wouldn't know it was you. It was probably more fun keeping it a secret that way."

The other student who plays Wilbur was exposed in an Arizona Daily Wildcat article last semester, but Sibley kept his identity a secret up until the very end. He leaves as one of the best Wilburs the school has ever had.

Phoebe Chalk, the assistant athletic director for public relations and special events, will miss Sibley as he moves on to Boulder, Colo., to work for IBM.

"I actually think what Kirk exemplifies is the student body," Chalk said. "He's very loyal to the university, trying to get students involved, whether he's wearing the mask or not, as part of the institution.

"He's been here a long time and has a real love for the athletic program."

There will be something missing from football and basketball games next season with Sibley's departure, as he interacted with Wildcat fans young and old in ways that previous Wilburs couldn't.

"I like doing football the most because of the student section and because it is such a spectator sport," Sibley said. "Crowd surfing is the best part about that.

"Basketball games are cool because they're always fast. The difference is more people can see you, so whenever you do something, you get a quicker reaction."

Wilbur got national recognition in the Pepsi One commercial featuring MTV's Tom Green. In the commercial, Green dumped a full can of the soft drink down Wilbur's mouth, catching Sibley off guard and leaving him with a sticky fur suit.

"That's gotten a lot of exposure, and I didn't expect that," he said. "It took a while to get that stain off the fur, though."

Sibley has heard all the questions surrounding the mystery of Wilbur and Wilma, and wants to make one thing clear - Wilma is, indeed, played by a girl.

"If I could change one thing, it would be letting Wilma travel more," he said. "She works twice as hard as Wilbur does any day of the week, but is not recognized as much for her efforts."

Sibley also wishes for a student section at basketball games because every other school besides Arizona keeps the balance between tickets for students and alumni fairly even. Plus, he said, it will give the basketball team that extra advantage.

"The Stanford game this year was easily the best game I've been to because that was the first time I saw our crowd get into the game like that," Sibley said. "They are usually mediocre at best."

While it may be difficult for a mascot to talk with his hands and try to watch a game, let alone his step, out of the small holes in the mask, Sibley said he wouldn't trade his experience of being Wilbur the Wildcat for anything in the world.

"It was definitely a dream come true," he said. "In a sense, I'll always be Wilbur the Wildcat. I'm glad I had the chance to do something so amazing."