The Mascot | 1999-00 @ERAUMBasketball National Championship Essay Series

Embry-Riddle Head Coach Steve Ridder comes from a close-knit family that has always supported each other. His mom Joyce and stepdad Norb were no strangers to Embry-Riddle basketball games in Daytona Beach, and his sisters Sue and Cathy and their families would make the occasional trip from Kentucky to support their brother as he coached as well.

When the Eagles were rolling through conference play, younger brother Dan conspired with Vicky Ridder to surprise Coach Ridder at the conference tournament. The assumption was that the Eagles would win the regular season crown and host the tournament in Daytona Beach. When that didn’t happen, Vicky and Dan adjusted the plan and Dan was on hand to surprise big brother Steve when the Eagles won the conference tournament in West Palm Beach.

Once ERAU made it to the national tournament in Branson there was no doubt that there would be Ridders in the stands at Keeter Gymnasium. Joyce and Norb were there for the entire tournament.

“I remember Cathy and Sue and their husbands were down there for the tournament with Norb and my mom,” Dan said. “I remember telling Steve, ‘Keep winning! Keep winning! I want to get down there.’ But I never did commit to it, because I kept thinking in the back of my mind that if I could get down there and just surprise him, that would be cool.”

After conspiring with this mom, Dan made the drive from Berea to Branson. He arrived at the Lodge of the Ozarks where his family and the team were staying and ran into Asst. SID Alison Smalling at the reception desk while trying to reach Joyce and Norb’s room. At that moment the team returned from shoot around. Not wanting to spoil the surprise, Dan and Alison enlisted the help of the receptionist who snuck him into a room behind the stairs until all the coaches and players had cleared the lobby. 

Dan had more up his sleeve than a mere surprise. He decided that he was going to go to the game dressed as the Embry-Riddle mascot.

“My stepfather Norb, who is a very strong Christian man, and I got out the phone book and we found this one place in Branson that said they might have something. The woman who we spoke to said they didn’t have an eagle, but they had a bird costume. So, we went down there and unbeknownst to us it was an adult entertainment store. It was pretty wild.”

What the costume the store had available turned out to be a bright yellow chicken, which Dan had to purchase for $200.

“I didn’t want to buy the thing, I just wanted to borrow it for a couple of hours,” Dan said. “She said, ‘You don’t borrow, you buy.’ So, Norb said he would pay half and I said, ‘OK great!’ We both put up $100 and bought the chicken outfit, and then I’m trying figure out how we can get the school letters on it.”

The solution was a blue boa and sash, which the store also had for sale. Once he got back to the hotel, Dan took duct tape and spelled out Eagles on the sash. Costume complete.

Then, it was off to the game. Dan got Joyce and Norb to drop him off at a door that was different from the fan entrance, and somehow, he gained access to the building and to the basketball court.

The College of the Ozarks fans packed the Keeter Gymnasium for the championship game and the Bobcat student section was right behind the basket where the Eagles were warming up. Of course, where the Eagles were, that mascot had to be as well.

“I remember the kids from the college were pretty nutty and one time they were chanting ‘KFC’,” Dan said, and he was more than able to hold his own against the Bobcat fans, recalling that he had the Bobcat mascot in a headlock at one point during the evening.