The Awesome Eagle's beginnings (1983-2012)

The last Evel Eagle and the first Awesome Eagle was the second-ever Tennessee Tech female mascot, Gina Grubb. She set the staple emotions and character for today's Awesome Eagle, although her suit looked quite different from 2025s. She was the mascot in 1984 and the transitional mascot from Evel Eagle to Awesome Eagle.

Another prominent figure in Awesome's early days was Mike Sliger, the mascot from 1988 to 1990. He laid some of the groundwork for goofy stunts and character. He would ride a 3-foot-tall unicycle and juggle or even have cheerleaders on his shoulders! His previous history of being Lucky the Clown helped him with his outrageous stunts. He also became the mascot to appear with the Awesome head we know today. They unveiled this new form of Awesome at a home football game, with a skit of him being delivered by an Averitt truck (one sponsor for the new suit).

Mike Sliger went on to pass down the torch to Ted McWilliams, who was a cheerleader at Tennessee Tech. Ted can be seen as a part of the Tennessee Tech faculty today over in the Jere Whitson building, still occasionally continuing his involvement with the mascot. He has helped to carry out tryouts and judged local spirit competitions! Ted took to more crowd interaction in his time as Awesome and was one of the first mascots to do the backward half-court shot, although he gives that credit to Brad Dozier, who made this stunt his staple at nearly every home basketball game. Ted's story and perspective are in an oral interview below. He tells of the unveiling of the mascot, crowd interaction, and his collection of funny stories.

Brad Dozier, another influential mascot from 1991-1992, appeared at 2024's Homecoming football game as Grandpappy Eagle. Brad was a terrific mascot who loved crowd interaction, getting in the stands, messing with the band, and hyping up the crowd with his staple backward half-court shot. Kelly Chambers, Assistant Director of the Crawford Alumni Center, recently wrote an article on Brad for Tennessee Tech's website, which is available below.