Many teams have a mascot, but maybe not one like Millard North’s mustang Kevin.
This plush doll has been around the school since 2004,b ut from 2004-2014 he was hidden away.
“One of the players that I got ahold of said she couldn’t stand it, it drove her nuts so she put it in a closet,” Millard North head coach Lindsay Peterson said.
In 2014, a player on the team found him and the team started bringing Kevin to games.
“At first he came out for fun. Like they just thought he was fun to bring around and it was kind of a joke, Peterson said, "But slowly but surely we started bringing him to things and we’d win matches. They’d be like oh we have to bring Kevin.
Between 2004-2014, Millard North didn’t reach the state title game once. Since 2014 and Kevin’s presence, two state championships in three years.
“We won the state tournament in 2016 and he was in the stands, he was being passed around by the crowd. And now Kevin doesn’t miss anything,” Peterson said.
Well except one time they forgot him this year.
“I mean when we forgot to bring Kevin to one of our games we lost," senior setter Marissa Salber said. "So not to be superstitious or anything, but he definitely helps us win.”
This stallion might just be special.
That’s why he goes to class with players on game days and sits at the end of on the bench during matches.
Millard North won its second Class A state title in three years this past weekend. This superstitious team attributes some of that success to its mascot, Kevin the mustang.
This might have other high schools wondering, how do they get a Kevin?
