College football mascots just as good at keeping their identities secret as firing up a crowd

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Ross Ramsey enjoys spending time with fellow alums at Michigan State football tailgates .

These aren’t just any old former Spartans, though.

They were Sparty himself – something few knew when Ramsey and his pals donned the muscular mascot suit two decades ago.

“Once you are done being Sparty, you can tell others that you were Sparty,” said Ramsey, a physician and hospital administrator in Pigeon, Michigan. “And clearly you have a close bond with those others who were in the same role as you, because they couldn’t share that experience with anyone else at the time, either.”

Ramsey and his buddies are members of an elite fellowship of ex-mascots. Men and women who once carried on as Big Al, Alabama’s lovable elephant; the Disney-inspired Oregon Duck ; Wisco