Brockport’s very own Ellsworth Eagle recently competed in SUNY Mascot Madness, a state-wide competition where SUNY mascots face off against each other in hopes to be crowned the best mascot in the SUNY system. The Brockport community rallied behind Ellsworth and voting him through each round, in hopes to replicate his 2024 victory; however, Ellsworth ultimately fell short of winning the competition, losing to Oneonta’s Red the Dragon in the final round by only 1,717 votes.
Here’s what to know about Ellsworth’s journey to the Mascot Madness finals, and how the campus community united to support him.
Flying past the competition
The SUNY Mascot Madness tournament is organized like a March Madness-style bracket, where every mascot is set to face-off. The winner of each individual match is determined by which mascot gets the most votes on SUNY’s website. The winners advance to the next round, until there are only two mascots left. The tournament spans five rounds, lasting from the middle of March to the beginning of April.
The highly anticipated tournament began on March 10 with 39 mascots vying for the top spot. In the first round, Ellsworth represented Region 4 and faced off against SUNY Geneseo’s Victor E. Knight. Ellsworth won the vote with 58 percent, with his supporters casting a total of 3,237 votes.
The second round took place starting on March 16 and ending on March 18. Ellsworth won this round by a much narrower margin, defeating Stony Brook University’s Wolfie Seawolf by only 2 votes. Brockport’s Golden Eagle earned 8,104 votes, opposed to the 8,102 votes cast for Wolfie.
Ellsworth continued this victory streak into round three against Binghamton University’s Baxter Bearcat. The third round spanned between March 20 and March 23, with only 8 mascots left. This round introduced bonus social media votes, where each mascot could earn extra votes through polls on SUNY’s Instagram story. Ellsworth received 9,562 votes on the Mascot Madness website and earned 1,468 bonus votes on Instagram, winning the round with 11,030 total votes over Binghamton’s combined total of 9,696 votes.
From March 25 to March 27, Ellsworth’s fans came back with a vengeance to defeat Farmingdale State College’s Ram-bo in round four. This match was highly anticipated: Ram-bo defeated then-reigning-champion Ellsworth in the second round of SUNY Mascot 2025. Ellsworth got his redemption this year, as the Golden Eagle gained 11,788 website votes and 2,270 bonus votes, winning with 14,058 total votes over Ram-bo’s 13,043 total votes.
This left only the final round against Oneonta’s Red, which started March 31 and ended April 2.
Soaring to the championship
The key to Ellsworth’s success in each round was his dedicated Brockport community. Students, faculty, staff, alumni and other fans of Ellsworth rallied together to ensure the Golden Eagle succeeded throughout the competition.
“Mascot Madness has become an annual tradition that energizes our students and strengthens SUNY Brockport spirit across campus,” Assistant Vice President for Communications John Follaco wrote in a campus-wide email.
From the start of SUNY Mascot Madness, Ellsworth’s campaign inspired the Brockport community to vote. From timely pop culture references to campus-wide initiatives, the campaign ensured voting for Ellsworth was at the forefront of the Brockport community’s mind.
One initiative to get campus excited to vote was the hunt for Ellsworth’s Golden Eggs. Initially, 20 golden eggs were hidden throughout campus. Inside each egg was a secret prize that students could redeem. As the competition continued, more hidden eggs were introduced, some larger in size to fit more secret prizes.
Students were also motivated to vote to get a free pizza party for their team or club. Students who posted that they voted for Ellsworth to their public Instagram stories, and tagged both @brockport and the account of their organization, would earn a free pizza party. The idea for the pizza parties was inspired by the University at Albany, who held free pizza parties for campus organizations that voted for Damien the Great Dane during SUNY Mascot Madness 2025.
During the final round, campus sponsored a pep rally for Ellsworth. During this event, the first 1,000 students who proved they voted for Ellsworth online and on Instagram, and texted at least one other person to vote reserved a free t-shirt at Ellsworth’s victory party if Ellsworth won. Attendees of the pep rally also had the opportunity to take pictures with Ellsworth, play cornhole, spin a prize wheel and listen to a DJ set from 89.1 The Point.
Ellsworth gained support from Brockport alumni, too. On April 1, Ellsworth appeared on WHEC News 10 NBC with broadcast meteorologist and Golden Eagle alum Stacey Pensgen to help deliver the upcoming weather forecast.
Still, Ellsworth’s campaign didn’t automatically seal his win against Red, as the victory would be decided after the voting period ended on April 2.
The final showdown
Even though Ellsworth was consistently successful throughout the previous four rounds of mascot madness, he lost the final showdown to Red.
The total website votes were neck-and-neck, with Ellsworth receiving 24,425 votes and Red receiving 24,812. Red also earned more bonus social media votes, receiving 5,233 votes while Ellsworth only received 3,904 bonus votes. Combined, Red had a total of 30,045 votes and Ellsworth had a total of 28,328 votes.
While 2026’s iteration of SUNY Mascot Madness may not have ended the way the Brockport community had hoped, Ellsworth still made an impressive run in the competition. Despite the loss, Ellsworth’s campaign brought together the campus community and elevated school spirit.
