Like mother, like son: New St. Joe’s Hawk is following in his mascot mother’s flaps

It was David Moser’s first day on the job as the Hawk mascot for St. Joseph’s, at a graduation party in a restaurant, and it was time to use the bathroom.

Moser went into the bathroom and started to take the suit off. He removed the top, finally freeing himself for some fresh air — if restaurant bathroom air qualifies — but in walked a party guest. So Moser put the top of the suit back on and started flapping.

It’s an unspoken rule, said Moser, who just finished his freshman year on Hawk Hill. The party guest told Moser he didn’t need to do that, but “if the suit is on, you flap,” Moser said.

“You have to flap,” said Moser’s mother, Barbara.

Barbara would know. Thirty-two years ago, she was the Hawk herself. The rules haven’t changed much. You wear the suit, you flap. During men’s and women’s basketball games, the job is to flap those wings from pregame to the final horn. David becoming the Hawk this year — he will be one of two Hawks to support the women’s basketball program and work events like that graduation party — is believed to be the first time there has been a second-generation Hawk in the mascot’s nearly 70-year history.

Like mother, like son. Why did David want to try out for the gig?

“Really because my mom did it,” he said. He had grown up going to basketball games at Hagan Arena and “kind of looked up to it and wanted to do it.”

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The tryout process included sending in a video highlighting why applicants wanted to be the Hawk. David also had to send in responses to written prompts, and then there was a tryout, when David had to put on the suit and walk and flap around Campion Dining Hall for about 20 minutes. It was the first time he had experienced the weight of the suit.

It’s heavier now, David and Barbara said, compared to when Barbara first donned the suit in the early ‘90s. Barbara was a “gym rat,” she said. She played softball during her freshman year and field hockey throughout her time on campus. She also worked at the recreation center. So when Barbara was asked to be the Hawk during women’s basketball games for the second semester of her sophomore season, she agreed. Her debut was at the Palestra, a thrill for an Exton native who knew the place’s history. Her time as the Hawk included a trip to the NCAA Tournament and plenty of memories.

But the suit was different back then. She once weighed herself with and without the costume using a scale at the gym. The suit added 15 pounds. That suit, Barbara said, had feathers.

“It’s not feathers anymore, but the new wing material, I guess you can call it, is definitely much heavier,” David said.

The suit David shares with fellow women’s basketball team Hawk Christopher Newman has spent some time at the home of the Mosers. The memories came flooding back for Barbara, now the vice principal at Pope John Paul II Regional Catholic Elementary School, but so did the mastery of the craft. David’s childhood has been filled with stories about Barbara’s Hawk days, but now she imparts the tricks of the trade.

In the family’s Glenmoore kitchen, David put on the suit and Barbara provided some pointers, like making sure David bends his knees. “When you stand so straight, it’s harder on your back,” Barbara said. Barbara, as mothers are wont to do, also reminds David to take care of the costume and hang it up when he’s not using it.

The suit is warm, and a basketball game takes a lot out of you.

“You have to make sure you get good sleep,” Barbara said. “You have to make sure you’re hydrated, obviously. You sweat like you’ve never sweated before.

“It’s so hot in there, and working out, you’re just drenched coming out of it,” David said. “Gatorade is the only thing keeping me running right now.”

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As a field hockey player, Barbara’s cardio was always a strength, but she was never into lifting weights and wondered if that could have helped her.

“I’m the exact opposite,” David said. “I’m horrible with cardio.”

Barbara said she never pressured David or her other son Jack, a soon-to-be senior at Bishop Shanahan High School, to go to St. Joe’s (Jack is thinking about it) and certainly didn’t expect David to follow in her Hawk flaps.

“He’s definitely a true Hawk,” Barbara said. “He just loves it as much as I did when I was there, too, and has the spirit and understands ‘the Hawk will never die’ motto.”

Barbara, then Barbara Wilson, was the Hawk for 1½ years. She would have done it during her senior year, but she was student-teaching and didn’t have the time, especially to travel to away games.

It was a road game that provided one of her fondest Hawk memories. St. Joe’s was playing at Rutgers, and the big Scarlet Knight mascot was chasing her around the court as she performed the standard figure-eight maneuver during a timeout. The opposing mascot was on her heels.

“I ended up running straight toward the ref and jumping out of the way at the last second and he crashed into the ref,” she said. The Knight harassment was over.

A perfect plan with a perfect result?

“The Hawk would never take credit for that,” Barbara said.

Just like a good Hawk knows to flap whenever the suit is on. Restaurant bathrooms included.