Spartan Stadium is home to some familiar student fanatics, whether it’s the usual suspects of the men along the front row, bare-chested but drowned in green and white body paint, or the women with faces painted and stickers plastered to their cheeks.
But at MSU, there are a few students who don’t go for the ordinary, but rather frequent the student section in a persona other than their own.
David Berkompas, a Spanish senior, and his friend David Weston, an advertising senior, don bear suits each weekend, while Kyle Fitton, a chemical engineering senior , comes to Spartan Stadium clad in a gorilla suit.
The origins of their personas are two different stories, but both are connected by the presence of MSU in their lives.
“When we were growing up we watched MSU games and saw people dressed up in the student section going nuts and what not, and we always just kinda wanted to be a part of that. So when we came here we just looked online for costumes,” Berkompas said. “The bears itself wasn’t necessarily like ‘Oh we want to be bears,’ it was just a costume we found and thought it would be cool and unique. Been going nuts ever since.”
Berkompas was inspired by the TV show “Workaholics” and decided a bear suit was the best fit. However, the company was out of grizzly bear suits, so he decided on a polar bear suit. The cost of the suit was a second thought compared to the amount of fun he would have in it. Weston decided a panda suit would be a nice a compliment to Berkompas’ polar bear. If anything, he said it keeps it classy. However, their adventure started off a little rocky.
“It was around Halloween freshman year and I wore it to one football game,” Berkompas said. “A lot of strange looks. A lot of people that would just like see you and pretend they didn’t see you and try to pretend it was normal.”
But as the pair became regulars, fans began to embrace the suits and the two became the subject of game day photo-ops and “a lot of petting” from the slightly inebriated patrons. The pair even stepped it up a notch by jumping upon a moped and driving all over campus.
“That’s the best part,” Weston said. “People when they see you driving on the moped wearing a bear coat it’s just the looks — we get some good looks.”
The costumes have even been the source of their local fame.
“It’s gotten us on TV a lot,” Berkompas said. “Two weeks ago against Oregon it got us into the (ESPN’s College GameDay) Cheez-it Fan of the Week competition and we got to meet Samantha Ponder.”
It’s not hard to pick the pair out of the crowd, but they aren’t the only zoo animal making an appearance in the crowd. Fitton’s story on becoming the gorilla differs from the two David bears.
“Well, I got the gorilla suit a long time ago back in high school,” Fitton said. “A group of friends of and I decided it would be cool for homecoming if half of us got gorilla suits and half got banana suits. It was just a blast so I figured once I got to college why not keep it going.”
Fitton loved the thrill of it and thought it “always seems to get people excited whenever someone is dressed up or doing something crazy.”
“We obviously have a really good football team so you don’t have to do that much, but whenever you see people around you going crazy it just makes it that much more exciting and kind of motivates you to cheer a little louder too,” Fitton said.
To Fitton, it’s also a chance to step out of his comfort zone for a little while.
“There’s that little bit of anonymity and kind of do whatever you want if even if it’s not you,” Fitton said. “Look, I’m not really that outgoing of a person, but when you have a suit on and you can kind of do whatever you want and be a little crazy and dance around and get people excited. That’s what got me going.”
Berkompas and Weston aren’t the only ones who have garnered some recognition from dressing up. He’ll get the fist bumps and picture requests and the occasional screen time. It’s something Fitton embraces as well because it’s recognition that doesn’t come often.
“I don’t get that much from anywhere else so to see a little recognition from either friends or people around the area so it’s kind of fun when people recognize you as ‘hey, that’s the gorilla guy,’” Fitton said.
Fitton arrived at MSU after growing up a Spartan fan, but he almost became the gorilla of a rival school. He turned down Michigan’s acceptance letter to come to MSU, and the success of the Spartans and the struggle of U-M throughout recent years only reaffirms his decision. He also encourages current students to dress up for games if they feel it’s for them.
“If you’re motivated and you want to do it I would say go for it,” Fitton said. “When you see people doing that stuff it just gets people excited. I highly recommend it. I think we want to keep the tradition going of just having a wild student section.”
