The Daily OrangeFormer mascot, '04 alumnus passes away
Friends remember spirited graduate after losing him to cancer
By Kevin Sajdak
Posted: 10/31/06, 10:56 PM EST Section: News
Chris Sawyer, a 2004 graduate of Syracuse University, passed away Saturday night after battling with cancer.
Sawyer succumbed to Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare but fast-growing, B-cell type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that occurs mostly in children and young adults.
While his death has shaken his friends and former superiors, these people mostly remember Sawyer - who for three years prowled the Carrier Dome sidelines as Otto the Orange - as an outgoing, compassionate and fun-loving young man who didn't have an enemy in the world.
"He had a zest for life," said Cary Tober, a close friend and former roommate of Sawyer. "He loved to live. He loved to be around people. He had more charisma than Snoop Dogg."
Sawyer, who graduated with a degree in speech communication and rhetorical studies, spent the 2004 baseball season as K-O the Kangaroo, a mascot for the Brockton Rox, an independent baseball team in the Can-Am League.
Andy Crossley, general manager of the Rox, described Sawyer as hard-working and enthusiastic.
"He was someone who really went out of his way to be a part of everything that was going on," Crossley said.
Crossley said while the details haven't been worked out, an in-season memorial will be held in Sawyer's honor.
After his stint with the Rox, Sawyer found himself in Indiana, working for the Indiana Ice, a minor league hockey team. Financial constraints forced Sawyer to leave his dream job of being a mascot in favor of the corporate world in Philadelphia. There he worked for WB Mason as a sales representative.
Soon after his diagnosis, Sawyer moved back home to Brockton, Mass., a mid-sized town about 25 miles south of Boston.
In addition to his duties as Otto, Sawyer was involved with DanceWorks, disc jockeyed at the former Maggies Tavern and also served as the 2003 Homecoming chair of his fraternity, Theta Chi.
"He was as engaging of a human being as I've ever known," said Eric Gleason, one of Sawyer's fraternity brothers and a 2005 SU alumnus. "He acted like Otto whether he had 80 pounds of costume on or not. It didn't affect his everyday persona."
Sawyer succumbed to Burkitt's lymphoma, a rare but fast-growing, B-cell type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that occurs mostly in children and young adults.
While his death has shaken his friends and former superiors, these people mostly remember Sawyer - who for three years prowled the Carrier Dome sidelines as Otto the Orange - as an outgoing, compassionate and fun-loving young man who didn't have an enemy in the world.
"He had a zest for life," said Cary Tober, a close friend and former roommate of Sawyer. "He loved to live. He loved to be around people. He had more charisma than Snoop Dogg."
Sawyer, who graduated with a degree in speech communication and rhetorical studies, spent the 2004 baseball season as K-O the Kangaroo, a mascot for the Brockton Rox, an independent baseball team in the Can-Am League.
Andy Crossley, general manager of the Rox, described Sawyer as hard-working and enthusiastic.
"He was someone who really went out of his way to be a part of everything that was going on," Crossley said.
Crossley said while the details haven't been worked out, an in-season memorial will be held in Sawyer's honor.
After his stint with the Rox, Sawyer found himself in Indiana, working for the Indiana Ice, a minor league hockey team. Financial constraints forced Sawyer to leave his dream job of being a mascot in favor of the corporate world in Philadelphia. There he worked for WB Mason as a sales representative.
Soon after his diagnosis, Sawyer moved back home to Brockton, Mass., a mid-sized town about 25 miles south of Boston.
In addition to his duties as Otto, Sawyer was involved with DanceWorks, disc jockeyed at the former Maggies Tavern and also served as the 2003 Homecoming chair of his fraternity, Theta Chi.
"He was as engaging of a human being as I've ever known," said Eric Gleason, one of Sawyer's fraternity brothers and a 2005 SU alumnus. "He acted like Otto whether he had 80 pounds of costume on or not. It didn't affect his everyday persona."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
David Salati
posted 11/04/06 @ 12:21 AM EST
Everything written in this article is absolutely the way Chris Sawyer impacted everyone around him including myself. I am forever blessed for having the opportunity to know him as long as I did, which seemed a lot longer than it actually was. (Continued…)
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