EAST LANSING – Living a double life can be difficult.
You find yourself lying to loved ones, making up stories about where you are going, what you are doing. Being one step ahead is the name of the game. Covering your tracks is imperative.
Nicole Niemiec can tell you it’s exhausting.
“I told people I worked a second job,” the recent Michigan State graduate and Troy native said. “I played club softball at MSU. I had to miss a game once. That was super difficult. My teammates would ask me, ‘Why can’t you take time off work?’ They were super disappointed in me.”
A deep secret finally comes out after a double life
She had to make up excuses for only drinking water at football tailgates and for leaving early.
Her sweaty appearance and the lingering smells that accompanied her into her dorm room postgame were topics of unspoken curiosity for her five roommates.
“It was really tricky,” she said.
Then Niemiec decided that she couldn’t keep her deep secret any longer.
She waited for graduation day. She knew some would be stunned by her revelation. Others might be upset, she thought.
When her name got called over the loud speaker to come receive her diploma that afternoon inside Breslin Center, she knew it was time.
She took a deep breath.
Then, she casually strutted up the steps and across the stage, wearing her green cap and gown and an oddly large pair of boots to match.
“I was Sparty,” she laughed.
The revelation: 'People were pretty shocked'
Wait, what?
This 5-foot-something girl was the MSU mascot? The big, muscular guy in green with the chest shield who flexes and dances around at games? That guy?
She even made a “reveal video” that has been viewed more than 33,000 times.
“Yep, people were pretty shocked,” said Niemiec, who played Sparty for three seasons, only the second female to ever serve in that role and the longest tenured. “I had to make some phone calls after graduation and apologize for blowing some people off.”
When you play Sparty, you are sworn to secrecy. It’s a tradition inside the Sparty Mascot Program. Niemiec took that responsibility very seriously, often reminding the few people who did know that they were also expected to zip it. No excuses.
So, who did know?
Ian May did — to Niemiec’s surprise.
The two have been dating for more than two years. They met at MSU. He was a basketball manager for five years under Tom Izzo. She, it turns out, spent a lot of time around the arena.
May said he found out about her secret early on but decided not to tell her he knew. His former roommate, who also used to play Sparty, spilled the beans early on in their relationship. It’s funny now, he said, to think about the lengths she went to to keep him in the dark.
“To this day, she is still salty about it,” joked May, who also graduated from MSU this spring. “The first week or so of us going out, she was hiding it, not knowing that I knew. She would talk about her job and not tell me specifics. One day, I accidentally just blurted it out.”
Sharing the MSU mascot secret
Another person who had difficulties keeping her status on the down low was her father, Mike Niemiec.
Who could blame him? He's a proud dad. Not to mention a proud Michigan fan.
“Her famous line to me was, ‘Dad, you can’t post that picture,’” he laughed, adding that he now roots for the Spartans when they aren’t playing U-M.
Her father wasn’t just proud of the end result, either. He was there from the very humble beginning.
He watched as his outgoing daughter filled in as a mascot at one of his golf outings when she was in high school, prancing around in a “Highlander” suit.
He was also there for the initial tryout at MSU during her freshman year. Then, she was told that she didn’t make the cut.
Instead of pouting, Niemiec went to work. She pored over hours of YouTube clips, studying Sparty’s every move. She would parade across her room late at night, attempting to nail his swagger and trademark walk. She bought into the mystique that surrounds the character.
Mastering the role became her sole focus.
“It’s the face of the university,” she said. “It was a weird obsession.”
Niemiec admits that her first tryout was not spectacular. The bulky suit was uncomfortable. At times, she couldn’t see. Heck, she even had a tough time putting the head on right.
There was another obstacle. One she wasn’t sure she could overcome.
The required height to play Sparty is 5-foot-11. Niemiec falls about 3-inches short.
“I was too determined to be Sparty,” she laughed. “I was pretty good in heels.”
Yes, heels. Niemiec wore special platform shoes in her second tryout. And she nailed it.
Mike Niemiec, who helped his daughter choreograph dance routines and hone her skills at home, said she simply wouldn’t be denied. She “grinded.” And it had nothing to do with hugging babies or jumping around on the sidelines.
“The brand means so much to her,” her father said. “She really values the image.
"Plus, anything that is dramatic or fun, she is usually up for it.”
Most fans see Sparty at sporting events, hanging around the cheerleaders and pumping up the crowd. Niemiec said the job consists of so much more than that.
Her summers are filled with alumni events, weddings, photo shoots and birthdays, among many other things. Sparty has even made appearances at funerals, though Niemiec never got that honor. The travel can be hectic. The hours, long. And it’s all unpaid.
The smiles made it all worthwhile.
“I love making kids happy,” she said. “You are a superstar.”
There's nothing like Spartan Stadium
Niemiec’s humor made the role even more fun. If she rode into Spartan stadium on a golf cart, waiving at fans without the suit on, she joked, people would think, “What is wrong with her?”
She doesn’t take herself nearly as serious as she took her character. She might have been Sparty to wedding goers, she said, but she felt like the “sweaty college kid” at the event.
Her time to shine was on Saturday afternoons in the fall. And one of those highlights came last October in a rain storm in Ann Arbor. That is until she could barely lift her arms.
“Little did I know, the arms are like a sponge,” she laughed. “They were like 40 pounds heavier. There was definitely a gallon or two.”
She was soaked. The “hockey player” smell started to creep in. The changing room was all the way on the other side of Michigan Stadium. She was stuck.
“I toughed it out,” Niemiec said. “That’s what you have to do.”
And she has seldom been so thankful, though seeing the final play wasn’t really in the cards.
The final U-M desperation heave made its way toward the end zone, and the crowd went quiet. That’s all Niemiec knows. When she heard the small corner of MSU fans erupt, she said, she just sprinted.
“I just stormed the field and slid on my knees. Like a guitar slide,” she joked after the Spartans knocked off the rival Wolverines, 14-10. “I was so happy. I was hugging cheerleaders, and I even carried the (Paul Bunyan) trophy with a player. It was so awesome. My adrenaline was so high.”
The moment was even more exciting for her father.
“She has had her hands on more trophies,” Mike Niemiec said, referring to the Big Ten basketball championship and wins over Indiana, Penn State, Notre Dame, and yes, even Michigan. “She is always in the mix with the players. She definitely knows where the cameras are.”
May said dating Niemiec just added to his college experience. He felt like an insider to “Sparty’s world.” He compared her to Bruce Wayne. He compared himself to Bill Clinton, had Hillary won the election.
“If there was a first male, that is what I am doing,” he laughed. “It was a blast to take part in a lot of things.”
'It’s pretty amazing what she did'
Niemiec said she never thought of her gender when she stepped into that burly costume. She simply thought about being the best. Living up to the lofty Sparty expectations that were there before her.
She is modest about her groundbreaking three seasons as MSU’s mascot.
Erin Bormes isn’t.
Bormes was the first woman to ever take on the role. She served during her senior season in 1997-98, making good on a good-natured bet she made with her mother, Claudia Riley.
Bormes was the mascot at Montabella High School in central Michigan. She did it for fun, mainly because the team needed one.
Like Niemiec, becoming Sparty wasn’t initially a goal of hers. Also, like her successor, she didn’t meet the height requirement.
That didn’t stop either one of them.
Bormes said she has kept track of Niemiec’s journey and even lent words of encouragement through email.
“She did a phenomenal job,” Bormes said. “I am really proud of her.”
“It’s a great honor to share with her,” she said. “The ability to be Sparty now has become so much more difficult. It’s pretty amazing what she did.”
Niemiec said she never thought of herself as the only woman on the Sparty staff, which consists of a security team. She was just a part of the athletic family and doing a duty. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t understand the significance.
“It’s humbling,” she said. “I knew, no matter what, I needed to tough it out. It was important for a female Sparty to graduate. I never saw myself as a trailblazer. I just knew it needed to happen.”
Now, it’s off to the post-college world.
No more hugs from fans, high fives or even slaps on the rear, she hopes. She is starting a career at General Motors in the district manager development program and looking on with an eager eye. She hopes more women try out for her former position but, either way, knows the program is in good hands.
It always has been.
“I am getting super nostalgic,” she said. “I love it so much. It’s truly a unique experience.”
Contact Cody Tucker at (517) 377-1070 or cjtucker@lsj.com and follow him on Twitter @CodyTucker_LSJ.
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