Kane Cougars Have Treat in Store for Montgomery Contest Winner

While trick-or-treating is always fun for kids, 5-year-old Jack Russo of Montgomery has more to look forward to this Halloween.

The winner of a contest sponsored by the Kane County Cougars, Jack will get to trick-or-treat for an hour tonight with Ozzie, the team’s mascot.

Children who participated had to answer the question, ‘Why would you like to have Ozzie join you for trick-or-treating this Halloween?’

For Jack, the reason was simple.

“He told me that he wants him to meet his little brother, Tim, and to meet his friends,” said his mother, Katie Russo. “He can't wait to talk about Ozzie at show-and-tell at school.”

Katie Russo was notified by phone last Thursday Jack had won the contest.

“When I got the call I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t even know how to tell him. He’s going to be so excited,’” she said.

When she told her son the news, “he was absolutely thrilled,” she said.

“The expression on his face — it was like he didn’t know what to do,” Katie Russo said.

Jack has a speech delay and has been working with a speech therapist, and Katie Russo said winning the contest is “such a wonderful reward for him.”

“He’s been doing great in school this year and in speech therapy,” she said.

The Ozzie contest proved to be a hit with area children.

“We got over 100 entries,” said Shawn Touney, the Cougars' media relations coordinator.

Jack is looking forward to donning his Batman costume and walking the Foxmoor subdivision where he lives with Ozzie.

The duo will likely attract a lot of attention.

“It’s going to be a huge deal on our street,” Katie Russo said. “Every house in our neighborhood has little kids and a lot of people over here go to Cougars games.”

The Russos are also “huge fans."

“(Jack has) attended several Cougars games this year and wears his Cougars hat everywhere,” Katie Russo said.

Jack is not worried about Ozzie trying to dip into his Halloween stash while trick-or-treating.

“He thinks that Ozzie likes pretzels instead of candy,” Katie Russo said.