Man who brought Clutch the Bear to life hangs up his costume
After 21 years of entertaining Rockets fans and tormenting opposing players, Robert Boudwin will no longer portray the team’s mischief-making mascot Clutch the Bear.
What will he miss most about being the Rockets’ devilish, roly-poly Teddy bear?
“The opportunity to make people laugh at games and inspiring Houston youth at school shows,” Boudwin said. And miss the least? “Having my kids tell me, ‘Ew, you smell like Clutch,’ when I come home from work.”
Boudwin said he’s hanging up his Clutch costume because “I need to do this for my family time.”
Boudwin has a 16-year-old daughter and 7-year-old twin boys, and wife Amy is set to debut twin girls any day now.
Clutch the Bear debuted with the Rockets in 1995. There are different stories about how and why Clutch happened — including one that says Clutch isn’t even a bear but a furry mash-up that represents all endangered species.
Another story says the team wanted a soft, lovable, cuddly character that kids could hug, unlike the Rockets’ previous mascot, Turbo, who wore a skin-tight superhero costume and performed acrobatics.
Here’s the inside story — from the man inside the Clutch costume.
“The Rockets hired me to create the character,” Boudwin said. “They had a Teddy bear in mind already. The personality just happened. I always thought of Clutch as being mischievous, fun-loving and electric. At first, Clutch was simply an improvisational character in the stands. He grew into a more multidimensional mascot when we added sketches, video shorts, stunts and school shows.”
Clutch and Boudwin took a little time to catch on with fans. For several years, Clutch and Turbo performed at games together, with fans divided over which mascot they preferred. When Turbo left in 2003,
Clutch widened his role and became a comedy figure, playing pranks and poking fun at the opposing team’s biggest stars.
Clutch expanded his role as team ambassador, too. He made 250 appearances away from Toyota Center and began performing in other NBA cities. He went on overseas trips to entertain U.S. soldiers and accompanied the Rockets at international games. He performed more than 1,750 shows in Houston schools — urging students to read more and not drop out.
He was named the NBA’s first “Mascot of the Year” in 2005 and was a first-ballot inductee into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006. He repeated as “Mascot of the Year” in 2013.
I asked Boudwin, did the job get too physically demanding? He said, simply and firmly, “No.”
While he didn’t rule out returning to mascot work in the future, he plans to start a consulting business.
“I’m not limiting it to just mascoting or sports,” he said. “I’m open to all opportunities and ways to consult on adding value through brand-building strategies and assisting clients connect in a meaningful and personal ways with customers.”
I asked Boudwin, why not open a school for mascots?
“Coaching, training and mentoring mascots at all levels is something that’s always been part of my professional life. I’ve trained over 500 mascots nationally over two decades at mascot camps and private coaching sessions, I’m sure I will always do this upon occasion.
“However, my main focus and passion is helping organizations realize and implement nontraditional brand-building and marketing strategies. I want to help them expand their customer base through consulting engagements and motivational speeches — primarily about innovation and perseverance along the road less taken.”
The Rockets will announce plans to hold auditions to replace Boudwin inside the Clutch costume.
A personal story involving Clutch
Like most young Rockets fans, my son adored Clutch. When he was about 12, he asked me, “How does Clutch pick kids to do skits with him at Rockets games? That would be so cool.”
Be careful what you ask for.
One of Clutch’s funniest, wildest skits involved him presenting a big birthday cake to a lucky season-ticket holder … only to trip and splatter the cake into an “unsuspecting” fan instead.
The unsuspecting fan was always a Rockets front office employee or someone in on the joke.
Except once.
I told my son, “Look, Clutch is going to come up our aisle and hit a guy with the cake about five rows behind us. When you see Clutch coming toward us, don’t look back, it’ll give away the surprise. Just look straight ahead.”
Splat! Right in my son’s face. He was covered with vanilla cake with chocolate icing. In his hair. Down his shirt. All over his pants. Down to his sneakers. Everywhere.
My phone started ringing immediately. “Was that …?”
Rockets ushers took my son backstage where Clutch and helper Dominic Davila were laughing hysterically. He took a shower in the Rockets locker room (also pretty cool) and Clutch gave him a souvenir Rockets jersey to wear the rest of the game.
Today’s trivia: According to Forbes magazine, who was the highest-paid actor in 2015? Clue: He made $64 million.
Tighty Whities (briefs)
• Chick-fil-A has introduced a new breakfast sandwich for the first time in six years.
It’s a more healthful option called the “Egg White Grill,” with a breakfast-size piece of grilled chicken breast, grilled egg whites and American cheese on a toasted multigrain English muffin. It’s packing 300 calories and 25 grams of protein, and costs $3.35.
• Have you seen the commercial for Home Advisor with fix-it queen Amy Matthews? If you look closely, like I do, you can see a small tattoo with letters from a foreign language on her left arm. Here’s the story behind the ink. In addition to appearing in the commercials and hosting “Renovation Raiders” on HGTV, Matthews does volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity in Thailand. The tattoo is the Thai word for “humanity.”
• “Roger Ailes” is a complete sentence — especially now.
Trivia answer: The highest-earning actor in 2015 was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Some of his credits include the “WWE 2k16” video game, “Jem and the Holograms,” “San Andreas,” the “Wrestlemania” DVD, “Furious 7,” “Hobbs,” “Manny Pacquiao Becomes a Professional Wrestler” (short) and the HBO series “Ballers.”
Johnson works so much that Kevin Hart has told him to slow down.