Cougars Mascot Gives Montgomery Boy Best Halloween Ever

For 5-year-old Jack Russo of Montgomery, it was the Best Halloween Ever.

On Thursday, Jack found out that he had won a contest held by the Kane County Cougars. His prize? The team’s mascot, Ozzie, joined him for more than an hour of trick-or-treating around his neighborhood, the Foxmoor subdivision.

According to his mom, Katie Russo, the contest was all Jack had been able to talk about for days.

“He’s a huge Cougars fan,” she said. “We went to two games this year, and he loves it. He has a Cougars hat that he wears everywhere.”

When Ozzie showed up at 5:30 p.m., the excitement on Jack’s face could not be obscured by his Batman mask. He ran up the street, shouting Ozzie’s name, and Ozzie ran to meet him, hugging and high-fiving. Before long, most of the kids in Jack’s neighborhood had flocked around him and his new friend.

For the next hour, Ozzie (along with Cougars media relations coordinator Shawn Touney) followed Jack and his family, ringing doorbells and asking for candy. Ozzie held Jack’s hand when the two crossed the street, and missed no opportunity to offer a fist bump or a hug.

Before long, Katie Russo noticed something her son was doing—at every house, Jack would get candy for Ozzie, and graciously place it in the mascot’s treat bag. “Here you go, Ozzie,” he would say. Then he would run ahead to the next house—he rarely slowed down for the entire hour.

Jack suffers from a speech delay, and has been working with a therapist. But his parents said he was surprisingly verbal Monday night, laughing and asking for candy and saying Ozzie’s name.

“It was so good to see him this excited,” Katie Russo said.

Before leaving for the night, Ozzie gave Jack a baseball signed by every member of the Cougars, and signed a toy baseball bat for him as well. The delight on Jack’s face was unmistakable.

“It was a fabulous night,” Mark Russo said. “This was probably the most memorable Halloween I can remember since we had kids.”  

“It was a great contest, and we’re glad to be the lucky winners,” he said.