Appearing on the same stage as ESPN’s Lee Corso and Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin, SuperFrog will get his 15 minutes of fame this April, along with some of the nation’s other animal mascots.In honor of March Madness, SuperFrog will be appearing in an episode of “Mascot Madness” on Animal Planet.
Communications specialist and cheer coach Lisa Albert got to show her school spirit when she was flown to Los Angeles to represent TCU as SuperFrog on the Jan. 10 taping of the show.
The purpose of the show is to focus on mascots that are animals, Albert said.
Lee Corso of ESPN hosted the show. He presented the top 10 mascot animal categories, and in those categories he talked about the mascots, their names and how they came to be.
Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet was also there and discussed the animals themselves, Albert said.
“There were five mascots there,” Albert said. “The mascots acted as the stage crew and intermingled with the humans during their jobs on the show.”
Albert said SuperFrog was in charge of makeup.
“At first I wasn’t too thrilled because SuperFrog isn’t much of a makeup artist, but it gave him the most exposure,” Albert said.
The five other mascots included the Wisconsin Badger, the Cincinnati Bearcat, the Maryland Terrapin, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket and the UC Irvine Anteater.
“The other schools there weren’t small schools, they were ‘big name’ schools you hear about all the time,” Albert said. “So I believe we were in good company.”
Jason Byrne, athletics marketing director, said SuperFrog’s appearance on the show will highlight TCU’s success.
“SuperFrog’s appearance will also allow the kids who watch Animal Planet to learn about him and the school,” Byrne said.
SuperFrog also appeared in several nationwide Nokia commercials in 2004, along with Snoop Dogg and Johnnie Cochran, which aired during the Sugar Bowl and other bowl championship games.
To qualify for a spot on the episode, the mascot must have been affiliated with College Sports TV, a CBS company that covers college sports, and be an actual animal.
“As a mascot, I think SuperFrog is very unique, and I think his appearance with the other mascots will give the university an opportunity to market our abilities in different ways,” Byrne said.
“It’s an incredible opportunity to get national exposure,” Albert said. “It was short notice but we were willing to make arrangements to get SuperFrog out for another chance to get us on a national platform.”
Ashleigh Greathouse, a senior and captain of the TCU all-girls cheerleading squad said she works with SuperFrog often at games and is proud to see him get national recognition.
“It’s a really good representation of our school, and it’s good to get our name out nationally,” Greathouse said.
The show will air April 1 on Animal Planet.