“Captain Safety” safely flew into Arizona Jan. 9 and attended the BCS football championship game.
Inglemoor High graduate and University of Oregon freshman Connor Eggerman not only rooted for his No. 2 Ducks (12-1) against No. 1 Auburn University (14-0) — 22-19 victors — Monday, but filmed his experience for The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
An Ellen crew showed up on the Oregon campus in Eugene Jan. 6 after announcing on Twitter the day before that a singing contest was in store at the Fishbowl eatery at Erb Memorial Union. “Fiesta wear” was asked to be the uniform of the day, but Eggerman, 18, donned his “Captain Safety” green bodysuit with strips of black and gold and a black mask to the event, which drew about 1,500 attendees.
Eggerman won with his improvised version of the Oregon fight song, which included the lines (sung to DeGeneres in her studio in Burbank, Calif.):
“I think I love you and I want tickets to the game; If you give them to me, I promise I won’t be lame; I mean, look at me, I’m attractive, and my muscles they don’t lie; If you don’t give me the tickets today, I think I will cry.”
A video of the event is posted on You Tube.
“When I found out I was going to be singing for Ellen … that was right down my alley. It’s what I do for fun,” Eggerman said about singing and rattling off lyrics on the spot. “I’ll tell you, I was pretty confident. I really wanted to have some fun and make people laugh.”
He and girlfriend, Jozln Pelk — also a 2010 Inglemoor grad and University of Washington, Bothell student — sat in 50-yard line seats in Glendale, Ariz., at University of Phoenix Stadium, and Eggerman was scheduled to appear on the Ellen show Wednesday to tell his tale and show his film. (They taped the show Tuesday afternoon in Burbank.)
When asked if he was wearing the “Captain Safety” suit after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday, Eggerman said with a laugh: “I would be, but I haven’t washed it — I didn’t want to let people suffer on the plane.”
Eggerman donned his bodysuit a few hours before the BCS title game and mingled with both the Oregon and Auburn crowds and did some filming of his own. “I yelled, ‘Go Ducks’ to the Auburn fans,” he said.
Come game time, however, DeGeneres’ crew ditched the suit for their filming portion of the night, but Eggerman had it on underneath regular clothes and was told he could suit-it-up if Oregon won. But no win, meant no suit for a dejected Eggerman and his fellow Ducks.
He did get to put his song to good use with the Oregon crowd: “The film crew tried to get people to sing the song. We got a bunch of drunk old guys to sing it with me.”
Connor’s father, Stephen, noted that his son has been a songwriter and guitarist since his junior-high days. Connor has also been known to store costume masks in the trunk of his car and apparently wear them on occasion, Stephen laughed.
“They hit him on the two good things that he does pretty well,” Stephen added.
“Captain Safety” came to be when Connor arrived on campus prior to the football season. He started wearing the superhero-like garb to games and people began to notice him and take pictures with him, Stephen said. Dad added that Connor — a Sigma Pi fraternity member — is entertaining the idea of trying out for “Puddles,” the Ducks’ mascot, next season.
“I think it’s good … more power to him,” said a laughing Stephen, who is a UW grad, along with his wife, Jeanette. “The more involved you can get in college is great.
“When he called to say he won, we thought it was a hoax,” dad added. “We’ll be rooting for the Ducks … but just for the BCS championship game.”
As far as the moniker “Captain Safety” goes, it has nothing to do with a football two-point safety, which the Ducks allowed in the first half of Monday’s game, or defensive player.
Instead, Jeanette said that at the start of school, Connor’s new dorm mates urged him to model his lycra suit for them. Like a superhero does, he jumped into the costume and then visited the girls living on the third floor. When they spotted the intriguing man in green, he put them at ease, saying: “Just making sure you ladies are all safe.”
“What a goofball,” Jeanette added about Connor. “You would never believe that this kid was so painfully shy as a little boy. He finally came out of his shell around his sophomore year of high school and now is reporting for Ellen DeGeneres at the BCS Bowl Game — what a journey.”
Added Connor: “It’s pretty unreal. It’s pretty cool. I don’t think I’ve even wrapped my head around it yet.”
