{"id":74101,"date":"2022-12-08T20:58:38","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T20:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/12\/08\/meet-the-cadet-who-serves-as-west-points-mascot-blackjack-the-mule\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:19:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:19:32","slug":"meet-the-cadet-who-serves-as-west-points-mascot-blackjack-the-mule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/off-duty\/military-sports\/2022\/12\/08\/meet-the-cadet-who-serves-as-west-points-mascot-blackjack-the-mule\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the cadet who serves as West Point\u2019s mascot: \u2018BlackJack\u2019 the mule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Army and Navy may have been brothers in arms for hundreds of years, but they have been rivals in competition for just as long. This competitiveness becomes all the more apparent in the annual clash of the Army-Navy football game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a supposedly macabre incident involving a sailor wearing a dead goat skin to a match in the late 19th century, the Naval Academy began to view the pack animal as a good luck charm and, by 1893, made it its mascot. Six years later, the Army fired back … with a literal pack mule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first Army mule, according to the service\u2019s records<\/a>, pulled an ice wagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe became a mascot when an officer at the Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot decided that Army needed something to counter the Navy goat in the 1899 game between the rival service academies,\u201d the article notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little is known about the Army\u2019s mascot until 1936, when a mule named Mr. Jackson, for Thomas \u201cStonewall\u201d Jackson, began his 12-year reign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West Point\u2019s BlackJack mascot isn\u2019t the school\u2019s only representation, however. In addition to BlackJack the mule, the school touts the Black Knight. The latter remains squarely for football, but the mule carries the honor of being the mascot for the entire U.S. Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
BlackJack waves the banner. (Image courtesy of Cadet Nathan Segovia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what attracted Cadet Nathan Segovia to join the BlackJack mascot team at West Point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the symbol for the entire Army wherever we go,\u201d he told Military Times. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segovia is in his third year at West Point and joined the mascot team as a freshman. He\u2019s now captain of the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have three different squads, each with five separate mascots that are in each slot, and three of them operate as BlackJack for every event or week,\u201d he said. \u201cThe other two are the Black Knight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segovia said it was surreal the first time he donned the suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPutting on the outfit is very methodical most of the time,\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cYou have to try to get the body on first and then you slip on the hands so you can get them to fit through the suit. And hopefully, you\u2019re the first one to wear it that day … otherwise, it\u2019s very moist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impaired vision is probably the hardest part \u2014 aside from having to do push-ups in the suit in front of roaring crowds. Segovia found it disorienting to walk in character the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was at the mercy of the team captain at the time,\u201d he noted. \u201cOnce I was in the suit, I was escorted around because you can\u2019t see outside, so you always need a handler or a guide, essentially for wherever you can go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the distorted vision, being a mascot is a blast, he said. Still, the more serious weight of what he was doing didn\u2019t truly hit Segovia until he had an experience with an older West Point alum. The gentleman approached him while Segovia was in costume and requested a photo together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time that I have a chance, I take a picture with BlackJack,\u201d he told Segovia. \u201cMascot pictures are the only ones I have of myself and my buddy, who is no longer here with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That experience illuminated the impact of working on a spirit squad for Segovia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom then on, I realized it was the least I could do for a lot of the old grads \u2014 be a part of the memories that they cherish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BlackJack the mule is one of two mascots representing West 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