Miami Maniac

Miami Maniac
University	University of Miami
Conference	ACC
Description	Anthropomorphic with a head resembling the Phillie Phanatic. Orange and green colored.
First seen	1982

The Miami Maniac, often shortened to The Maniac, is the official mascot of the University of Miami Baseball program. Although Sebastian the Ibis is the official mascot of most University of Miami sports, the Maniac is the only mascot which performs at Hurricane baseball games. Created in 1982 by visionary College Baseball Hall of Fame head coach Ron Fraser in 1982 and originally performed by John Routh, the Miami Maniac has been a constant at Mark Light Field ever since. Some believe that the mascot idea was modeled after the original Orofino High School Maniacs, from the small town of Orofino, Idaho. The Maniac mascot was used there many decades prior, and has been the target of much scrutiny due to the high school's proximity adjacent to an Idaho State mental hospital. More recently, the mascot received national attention after Idaho State officials proposed adding the Maniac mascot to an Idaho vehicle license plate.

Although primarily associated with the Miami Hurricanes' baseball team, the Maniac has performed at other sporting events including minor league baseball games and the College World Series. In 1985, the Maniac was "married" in a wedding broadcast to a national television audience on ESPN. The maniac has an anthropomorphic body with a head which resembles the Phillie Phanatic. The Maniac sports orange fur on most of his body with patches of green on his head and nose. He usually wears a University of Miami baseball jersey with the number 1/2 on it.

The history of the Miami Maniac starts out at the University of South Carolina. An undergraduate student named John Routh had helped create the South Carolina Gamecocks' mascot Cocky. Routh's performance as Cocky at Gamecock baseball games had made such a favorable impression that he was invited to the 1981 College World Series to perform as the Series' official mascot. One of the coaches at the World Series that year was University of Miami head coach Ron Fraser. Fraser was always looking for opportunities to promote Hurricane baseball and college baseball in general and decided to create a mascot specifically for Hurricane baseball.

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