The Coyote is the official

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

, a professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). First introduced in 1983, he was inducted into the

Mascot Hall of Fame The Mascot Hall of Fame, formally "The Mascot Hall of Fame Interactive Children's Museum", is a hall of fame for North American sports mascots. It was founded by David Raymond, who was the original Phillie Phanatic from 1978 to 1993. It was foun ...

in 2007.

History

The Coyote was first introduced in public at a

game on April 13, 1983. He's known for his slapstick comedy routine, including impromptu interactions with game

officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

during time-outs, rehearsed skits and dance numbers with the ''Silver Dancers'' (the Spurs

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

team), as well as for his trick filled antics, such as riding a unicycle, pulling his eyes off, dribbling a ball with his feet or spinning a ball on a pen. Outside of his presence in arena at games the Coyote performs at over 400 community appearances per year, which is noted as being more than any other mascot in the NBA. Over the years he has also been featured in numerous local San Antonio area TV commercials and appeared on national morning shows, including ''

Live with Regis and Kathie Lee ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

''. The Coyote concept was created by Tim Derk, who also performed the role for the first 21 years — appearing in more than 1,100 games and making over 4,000 community appearances — before suffering a stroke that forced him to leave the job on February 13, 2004. Derk went on to be named Manager of Mascot Development by Spurs Sports & Entertainment six months later. The Coyote won several awards for his performances throughout the years. In 2006, he was named Best Mascot of the Year 2005 by the website Gameops.com. In 2007, he was inducted into the

, in recognition of his hard work on and off the court. In 2014 and 2020, he was named Best Mascot of the Year by his fellow mascots.

References

External links

The Coyote
at

official website
The Coyote
at

official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Coyote, The National Basketball Association mascots San Antonio Spurs Canine mascots