ASU’s second female mascot reflects on time in Tempe

TEMPE – Sydney Lindon-Lake walked up to a fundraiser, duffle bag stuffed with equipment in hand, excited to work one of the first events with her new job.

She approached the person coordinating her appearance and unzipped her bag to reveal its contents: the head, pads and jersey of Sparky, Arizona State’s mascot.

Instead of excitement, the response Lindon-Lake received from the person working the fundraiser was disappointment. 

“So you do Sparky’s laundry,” they said.

She did not do Sparky’s laundry. She was Sparky.

Lindon-Lake recently wrapped up her final semester of college, revealing to the world that she was the second woman in ASU history to put on the suit.

Although the laundry comment might have discouraged others, Lindon-Lake didn’t allow it to affect her.

“I’ve never let it define me,” Lindon-Lake said. “I’ve never been like, ‘Oh, that hurt my feelings,’ or ‘Oh, I feel defeated.’ It just goes to show, I need to break some barriers. I deserve to be here. It gives me more fuel to work harder.”

Her four years are a testament to belonging. Although she has faced adversity as a woman in a mascot suit, Lindon-Lake refuses to have her spirit broken.

“They don’t know me, they don’t know how hard I work, they don’t know how passionate I am about what I do, so I can’t let that define me,” Lindon-Lake said. “I just laugh about it now and now it’s just a funny memory that makes me more proud of where I am and what I’m doing, like proving people wrong.”

The mindset that drives Lindon-Lake has a very apparent source: her upbringing. Growing up with her two moms, Barb Lindon and Dawn Lake, she had a positive mindset instilled in her at a young age. When they look back at the woman their daughter has become today, they swell with pride and emotion.

After sitting down at their lake house, Lake was asked to describe whom her daughter was. Ready to talk about Sydney, Lake opened her mouth but struggled to get any words out as tears welled up. As she laughed with her wife and daughter, she decided to step away, overcome with emotion when thinking of Sydney.

Her wife stepped in her place, describing how it feels seeing her daughter succeed.

“She doesn’t even surprise us anymore,” Lindon said. “Anything she sets her mind to, she accomplishes. We’re beyond proud now.”

From a young age, Lindon-Lake always had the energy necessary to be inside a mascot suit. 

When looking back at the journey that brought her daughter to the Sparky suit, Lindon thinks about some of her daughter’s favorite activities as a child.

“She always wanted to play,” Lindon said. “She had tons of energy. She loved being at a lake, catching frogs and just wanting all the attention on her. So her being a mascot was no doubt her future, because she gets all the attention. She’s a celebrity.”

Once her high school’s mascot, Lindon-Lake’s energy and school spirit has remained a constant her entire life. Despite her school spirit continuing once she landed at ASU, she didn’t always have the goal to put on the Sparky suit.

Initially a kinesiology major, she intended on spending her energy on academics. When she switched to communications, she found herself at a football game and had an epiphany. 

“I had my face painted,” Lindon-Lake said. “I had my big jersey on. I got into the game super early. I was front row. I didn’t watch the game the whole time. I watched Sparky at my first ever football game. And that’s when I realized I need to be Sparky.”

While Lindon-Lake faced many challenges inside the suit, one of the harder tasks that came with the job was staying quiet about it.

Keeping a secret might be easy for some, but having to lie about a job that took up a lot of her time posed unique challenges.

It was more than just keeping quiet about it. It was creating excuses for why she couldn’t attend a football game with her friends, what her career passions were and why she was in the same city as an ASU sports team.

“It’s something that truly defines me,” Lindon-Lake said. “What’s really ironic is I can’t tell anyone. It’s  the first thing I want to tell everyone. It’s my main character pillar in my life, but it’s like, ‘Sydney, what’s your hobbies? What do you like to do for fun?’ I’m like, ‘long walks on the beach and hiking, I guess.’ It’s my one answer that I really want to say. I just can’t say it, no matter how much I love it.”