My next guest is in a class all his own. Dating back to his first season in at the Utah Jazz more than 25 years ago, he has performed at over 900 NBA games, has donated 16,000-plus hours of assistance in the community for more than 300 community organizations, and raised more than one million dollars for charity in the process.

He has taken home more than 40 community and national awards, including eight mascot leadership awards, keys to two cities, been honored by three individual governors, been named Mascot of the Year in the NBA five times and Best Mascot in all professional sports nationwide twice. He has been inducted into the YMCA Hall of Fame, the Utah Summer Games Hall of Fame, and the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006.

Please help me in welcoming a man who is smarter than your average bear, the original Utah Jazz mascot, The Bear, Jon Absey