What's it like being Akron's favorite kangaroo? Past Zippys share tales

Matt Kappler stood on the court of the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, during a timeout at the Akron vs. UCLA 2022 NCAA Tournament game, looking into the crowd.

Some 15,000 people stared back, and maybe 1,000 were Akron fans. Except they weren't actually staring at him — they were looking at Zippy , the University of Akron's smiling kangaroo mascot.

The game was close. Inside the mascot's suit, Kappler had just been asked by the March Madness directors to do a dance-off against the UCLA Bruin mascot. 

Quiz: Put your knowledge of UA mascot Zippy to the test with our trivia quiz

"It's time for me to drum up some excitement," he thought. "This is what it's all about."

"Sexy and I Know It" by the band LMFAO started playing, and he knew what he had to do.

"My claim to fame was I could do a split," he said. "I did a little Griddy move at the beginning, started to feel a little rhythm and they said, 'You've got 30 seconds.' … I do my split. 15,000 start going crazy … It was just like a big pop in the crowd."

Ten seconds into the Bruin dancing, the entire crowd started booing. Kappler felt bad, but he knew he did his part. He won the dance-off.

"That game will live in infamy and in gratitude for me," he said, as the Zips ended up losing by 4 points. "I wanted to make it something special."

Kappler was Zippy from 2018 to 2023 while he attended UA as a sales management student, and he has plenty of stories like this — but he isn't the only one.

Akron students have been keeping Zippy's magic alive since the mascot was "born" in 1953.

This year, around 15 Akron students tried out to be the person under the suit on Feb. 11 and Feb. 12, said Michelle Banis, director of alumni relations at UA and coordinator of the mascot program. The identity of students who portray Zippy remains a secret until they graduate.

"Zippy has stood the test of time as a positive, welcoming, endurance-focused mascot," she said. "Even through tough times, she just creates this, like, 'We're going to get through it, we're resilient, we're happy to be here, we're going to make the most of it, I'm always going to be here be here,' kind of mentality."

Behind-the-scenes at Zippy tryouts

Banis said tryouts are held in an "American Idol" style. Students put on the suit and dance to a song in front of a table of judges.

"We don't know who they are, but we ask them to do different tasks that test their visibility, their endurance in suit, their energy in suit," she said.

Some of these tasks include pointing out body parts that are in different places than human ones, dancing to the fight song and acting out different scenarios, such as what they'd do for a crying child.

Afterwards, out of the suit, the student talks with the judges about why they want to be Zippy.

Inside the suit

Kappler said he tried out in February 2018 when he was still a senior at Copley High School.

"You're wearing shoes that are too big for you, you're putting on a suit that is quite unfamiliar to you in a building that you might not have been in before, so you don't really have any of your bearings around you," he said.

The suit is much heavier than people would expect, he said. It can also get very hot.

"When you put on the head, you finally feel fully immersed, fully submerged in it, all while you lose probably 80%, 85% of your vision," he said.

Banis said when a student puts on the suit, they become another being altogether, changing their character and vibe. But every student who becomes Zippy is expected to be consistent with the character's mannerisms and go-to movements.

Who is Zippy? And why is the University of Akron's nickname the Zips?

The character is a perpetual freshman, Banis said. She will never graduate, and she's studying public relations.

The mascot was first created in the 1950s when students wanted a competitive image to rally behind for athletics. The name "Mr. Zip" was coined after the name for Akron fans, the "Zippers," because of Akron's connection to the rubber industry. Students decided on a papier-mâché kangaroo to represent it.

Over the years, the fanbase name was shortened to "Zips." As the Zippy costume evolved, a pouch was added by the late 1960s.

Because only female kangaroos have pouches, Zippy became a girl — one of the few female college mascots in the country.

"Zippy is different — she has a different demeanor to her," Banis said.

She isn't scary-looking or angry some like other mascots. Instead, she's smiling and is known to be bubbly, lovable and sassy in the most respectful way, Banis said.

"She'll pull your hat off, or she'll poke you on one shoulder, she'll be walking the other way," Kappler said. "She likes to tease and play games."

In 2007, Zippy was named the Capital One Mascot of the Year . In 2025, Sports Illustrated ranked Zippy the No. 1 mascot in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Zippy attends events on campus and in the community, along with almost every home football and basketball game. She's gone to parades, birthday parties and funerals, and she was even a flower girl at a wedding once.

Last fall, Zippy had over 200 appearances between August and December 2025, Banis said.

"It's beyond UA. It's more of this Greater Akron visual for people," Banis said.

Being the mascot boosts students' confidence

In high school, Kappler said he received the "Most Spirited" senior superlative, and he didn't plan on losing that reputation.

"I always knew I was going to be going to the games (at Akron)," he said. "Might as well take it that one step further and be the No. 1 fan, if you will."

Morganne Neuman, who attended UA from 2020 to 2025 and was the mascot the whole time, said being Zippy helped push her out of her shell.

"Weirdly enough, you'll find that a lot of the mascots are also engineering majors," Neuman said, who studied mechanical engineering. "We're quieter, and maybe we are goofy and silly, but we're kind of scared to show it to people. But nobody knows it's you when you're Zippy … Zippy is doing whatever — it's not you."

Neuman said over time, she became a much more confident and outgoing person because of the experiences Zippy brought to her.

"I would've died if I had to talk to people like six, seven years ago," she said. "[Now], I'm more okay being a little bit more goofy or loud or whatever because if the mascot can do it and it's okay, there's a certain level that I can do it, and it's okay, too."

Being the mascot also gave her a way to bring some joy into her weeks as she struggled with her mental health during college.

She said whenever she found herself having a hard time, a Zippy event was the perfect solution.

"I would suddenly be in a better mood because I was making other people happy by just being a goofball," she said.

Neuman said now that she's working in manufacturing in South Carolina, she hasn't stopped mascotting.

For fun, she is now the pink flamingo mascot for the Florence Flamingos baseball team.

To keep the Zippy program going, Banis said support for the operational fund is welcome. Though tryouts for this year have ended, the program is always looking for new, enthusiastic students.

"(Zippy) was my whole world from Day 1," Neuman said. "If there's anybody interested in doing mascotting, do it. … It is (an experience) that no one else will ever have."

Lauren Cohen is a community reporting intern for the Akron Beacon Journal and Signal Akron. The position is funded through a grant from the Knight Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Zippy program helps UA students develop confidence, spread joy