KnightNews.com went backstage at the 17th Annual Celebrity Mascot games to capture exclusive footage of Knightro along with mascots from across the country battling it out – American Gladiator style!
The event is put on to raise money for the New Hope For Kids charity. The program raises money to grant wishes to children with terminal illnesses, and also to help provide support for kids who just lost a loved one.
KnightNews.com’s entertainment reporter Andrew Stein said Knightro was clearly the crowd favorite, according to his vantage point inside the arena.
At one point Knightro hung from the ceiling and swung across the floor with fireworks going off behind him. The crowd went wild.
The mascots put on a great show, and of course, they did it for a great cause. Central Florida Sports Commission President Sam Stark loves hosting it every year.
“It’s a wonderful family event that we host, been hosting it for 17 years,” Stark said. “We bring in mascots from all over the country. This year we have about 28 mascots from the USA and Canada.”
We asked Stark some tough questions, too. Like which mascot he was rooting for.
“Well this year I kinda have uh, there’s one from a local team, the University of Central Florida, Knightro, I always like Knightro,” he said. “And of course,” he added, “as a Rollins guy, with all love to my big school here, I gotta like Tommy the Tar too.”
We even managed to grab an interview with Knightro. He was a man of few words, but showed he was the top mascot through some creative sign language.
At the end of the day, it didn’t really matter who won, Stein reported, because it’s all for the kids.
They’ve raised more than $265,000 since the game’s inception for New Hope For Kids. And that’s something everyone can cheer for.
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