Greenbrier County native Troy Clemons has been named West Virginia University’s 64th Mountaineer Mascot and will serve during the 2016-17 school year.
Clemons, a senior sport management major minoring in business administration from Maxwelton, West Virginia, was named the next Mountaineer during Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game against Texas Tech. He was selected by a committee of faculty, staff and students based on an application, essay, interview and cheer-off competition.
“As the Mountaineer, I want to give back to the University that has given me so many great opportunities and memories,” Clemons said. “I will have the opportunity to portray my passion for our state and University onto others and to exemplify the Mountaineer pride that unites the state.
“Growing up in West Virginia has allowed me to see how special this state is because of its people.”
Clemons, a graduate of Greenbrier East High School, is a Mountaineer and PROMISE Scholar. He is a student manager for the WVU baseball team, serves as a student assistant for the Mountaineer Athletic Club and has served as an operations and facilities intern for the West Virginia Black Bears. His community service experience includes WVU Children’s Hospital, Ronald McDonald House Charities and the United Way. Clemons was a finalist for the Mountaineer Mascot position last year. His father and older sister are graduates of WVU.
Clemons will officially begin his reign as the Mountaineer Mascot for 2016-17 at the Gold-Blue spring football game on April 23 at The Greenbrier.
Clemons replaces Michael Garcia, who has served as the mascot for the past two years.
Clemons was chosen from among four finalists. The others were: Ethan Ball, a sophomore business marketing major from Princeton, West Virginia; Aren Cox, a freshman criminology major minoring in forensics and investigative science from Wexford, Pennsylvania.; and Savannah Lusk, a sophomore exercise physiology major minoring in biology and sport and exercise psychology from Covel, West Virginia.
