The University of Wyoming has a new unofficial mascot this year. At any school game or school sponsored event, UW Spider-Man has been spotted in the crowd, standing out in his custom black and gold costume. He can be seen taking photos with fans and helping boost school spirit.
The student who dresses as UW Spider-Man has asked to remain anonymous and instead be referred to as Peter Parker for this interview.
Parker and his brother love the superhero Spider-Man. As children they watched the movies and dressed up for Halloween. When it was time for him to go to college, he brought the costume with him as a joke, not intending for it to become a big thing.
“I brought it to college for a joke, and I didn’t think I’d wear it,” Parker said.
The first spotting of UW Spider-Man was summer 2023 at Saddle Up, where the featured film that night was Spider-Man. Parker came to the event dressed up as Spider-Man for the fun of it.
The freshman loved it and he was even featured on Barstool Wyoming.
“The first saddle up movie night was Spider-Man. There was one guy who filmed me doing a backflip,” he said. “I got onto Barstool WYO and then my high school friends and I got together and ordered a black and gold costume to then create UW [Spider-Man].”
Spider-Man is a well known beloved superhero that everyone is familiar with, originally created by Stan Lee in 1962.
“There was one kid who was wearing a Marvel shirt, and his parents were like ‘there is Spider-Man go get him.’ He runs out of this little box and just jumps into my arms. I thought it was the cutest thing in the world.”
Moments like this inspire Parker to continue dressing up as Spider-Man for the community. When at these events Parker is supporting the school in his own way.
“It makes people so happy. It brings a smile to anyone’s face who sees a superhero. I may not be a real superhero, I can’t shoot webs, but seeing a superhero or anyone that revolves around Marvel/DC is great, and I think it just makes the morale so much higher, especially for games. Especially for events where it shows that I’m supporting the school.”
Parker never planned for UW Spider-Man to grow into something as big as it has become.
Not only have the students accepted him, but the school mascot Pistol Pete has as well. The crowd erupts and phones are pulled out when UW Spider-Man is spotted at the school games.
“We didn’t expect it to get this far. Everytime I see Pistol Pete, he’s learned my signature sign. Everyone who films will see me on camera and be like oh, that’s Spider-Man. It’s blown up to something we didn’t expect to, you know, become the unofficial official UW [mascot].”
Parker’s goals for UW Spider-Man are to reach 1,000 followers, get noticed by the football team, and take a picture with Andrew Paisley in hopes that the University of Wyoming’s Instagram page will follow UW Spider-Man back.
