Team: Phoenix Suns
Debut Year: Winter 1980
Signature Move: Reenacting the movie “Rocky” (if you know, you know!)
Go the Gorilla Trivia
- Go the Gorilla is the official mascot for the Phoenix Suns.
- The origin story for Go is that he showed up one winter night in 1980 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Behind the fictional lore, however, this mascot was a happy accident for the team. In 1980, a messenger working for a singing telegram service called Eastern Onion was randomly hired to go to the Suns arena dressed in a gorilla suit. The messenger, named Henry Rojas, danced to the music during the game and rooted for the team, catching the eyes of fans and Coliseum security. After his first appearance, he was invited by the Suns management to become part of the team. They referred to him as “the missing link.”
- Over the decades, Go has hammed it up during time-outs on the court. Some of his silly stunts have included dressing up to imitate Jack Ramsay, slicking his hair back like Pat Riley, and reenacting the movie “Rocky.” This reenactment features Go doing push-ups on the court followed by climbing the lower and upper level Coliseum stairs to get to the top before heading up to the top of the building.
- Go’s position on the Suns is dunk expert.
- He’s a five-foot tall ape. Go loves the movies “King Kong” and “Bananas” and his favorite food is pizza… with banana toppings, if you’ve got ‘em.
- For 11 seasons before Go, the Suns did not have a mascot. Before Go, there was an attempt to create a Suns mascot using a sunflower costume, but the idea never caught on.
Follow Go the Gorilla on Facebook and TikTok.
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