MORGANTOWN — Timothy Eads was never in the dark concerning his desire to participate in a highly visible extracurricular activity at WVU.
As a high school student five years ago, he happened upon a photograph on Twitter of a buckskin-wearing Mountaineer mascot standing atop Seneca Rocks.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, I want to do that,’” he said, Thursday, as he readied to assume that same role.
Eads, a Buffalo, Putnam County, native majoring in public relations, officially became the 66th mascot in school history — when he was handed the iconic long rifle from outgoing Mountaineer Trevor Kiess.
He’ll make his Mountaineer debut Saturday, during WVU’s spring football scrimmage at Mylan Puskar Stadium.
While he was never emotionally in the dark over his school spirit aspirations, he was, physically, Thursday afternoon.
So were a lot of other people.
A power outage killed the lights all over Suncrest, including those in WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center, where the ceremony took place.
Four other events were taking place in the center at the same time, causing staffers to scramble.
Two minutes before the rifle-passing ceremony, the power came back on — and Eads laughed and cheered the loudest.
That’s because he joked earlier about what was shaping up to be a memorial event, as people diligently checked to see if the flashes of their smartphone cameras were engaged.
“I didn’t have a thing to do with this, I swear,” he said.
Kiess, meanwhile, said being the Mountaineer was his life’s greatest honor.
It’s not just about firing the rifle at sporting events, the Elkins native said.
Being the Mountaineer means showing up at schools, hospitals and other events across West Virginia.
He said Eads, who had served as his alternate during his tenure, has the personality and pride to make it work.
“Timmy, you’re gonna be a great Mountaineer,” Kiess said.
“I can’t tell you how it feels right now to be standing up here,” Eads said, before leading his audience in an impromptu “Let’s go, Mountaineers!” cheer.
Gene Wotring, meanwhile, brushed tears as he stood and acknowledged the applause for him.
Wotring is the son of legendary gunsmith Marvin Wotring, who made the Mountaineer long rifle from 1977 until his death last December.
His son said the family will continue the tradition.
“This is my dad’s legacy.”
