Long before he became a PGA Tour caddie, a hotel reviewer, and a Netflix star, Geno Bonnalie wore a different mask in college. Literally.
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Joel Dahmen’s looper used to loop around at University of Idaho basketball games as a mascot. And not just any mascot, but Joe Vandal.
Loren Orr
As far as mascots go, that’s a pretty cool one. So how did this come about?
“And I’m goofy and outgoing and the costume fit,” Bonnalie explained to Jeff Eisenband on the Eis on Golf podcast. “So I said, I’ll do it.”
That being said, it didn’t turn out to be as fun of a gig as Geno thought. He had to put up with intoxicated fans, a hot costume, and even a fan that would hit him in the mouth and cause him to bleed when he got bumped into by said intoxicated fans. And all those things added up to Geno being relieved of his duties.
Apparently, he let one of those fans switch with him for the second half and that fan started hitting players on the other team in the back of the head. And that got back to the school, which got back to Geno. Here’s how he tells the entire story:
.@GenoBonnalie was the @Idaho_Vandals mascot until they fired him 😂😂😂 @EisOnGolf pic.twitter.com/21H3Uw078i
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) April 29, 2024
Hey, maybe it was for the best. Watching a game in that getup sounds pretty brutal.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
