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This Commencement, Meet the Blue Devil

Student commencement speaker wears his school pride on his head

David Schmidt in a rare photo with his Blue Devil head off.

This year's Duke University student commencement speaker has practice making crowds laugh and cheer and scream -- without saying a word.

Senior David Schmidt is one of three students who moonlight as the Duke Blue Devil mascot at basketball and football games. He's also a member of the student sketch comedy club Inside Joke, drawing laughs as a vivacious dinosaur.

Coy about what he plans to say at commencement Sunday, May 13, in Wallace Wade Stadium, Schmidt hints "mascoting does play a large role in it."

His other promise about the speech is that, while including life lessons, it will be lighthearted.

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Dave Schmidt "surfing" in his mascot custume in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I'm almost entirely comedic," Schmidt said. "If someone asked me to do something serious, I would die a horrible, embarrassing death in front of lots of people."

His sense of humor was evident to the committee who selected him.

"We thought the speech had broad appeal. He was engaging in his delivery," said committee chair Sterly Wilder, the executive director of alumni affairs. "All of that with a message."

Performing as the Blue Devil this past year -- a secret not revealed until the final men's home basketball game -- was something of a fantasy for Schmidt, who grew up in a household of Duke basketball fans in suburban Derwood, Md.

"Screaming in the family room at the television set is basically how I was introduced to Duke," he said.

Why a Blue Devil?

Even Duke fans are often surprised to find that the Blue Devil mascot dates back to the years immediately following World War I. The name was selected in a contest run by the student newspaper, The Trinity Chronicle. For more from Duke Archives, click here.

Some of Schmidt's favorite moments in costume were running around the floor of Madison Square Garden during a men's basketball game, receiving an encouraging pat on the bottom from WNBA player Diana Taurasi and performing the surfing stunt during timeouts.

"It's tricky," he said about balancing on a surfboard while members of the pep band roll beneath the board to move it across the Cameron Indoor Stadium floor. "The first time I did it, I was shaking; I was terrified. If you fall, you don't want your head to fly off in the middle of Cameron with thousands of people watching."

Schmidt's other opportunity for working a campus crowd comes through the Inside Joke comedy group. "It's like ‘Saturday Night Live'," he said about the group's short scenes, which they write themselves.

Video

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Dave Schmidt plays a raptor living a modern suburban life in this Inside Joke sketch. Watch with Quicktime or RealPlayer.

His most popular character in these sketches is "Raptor," the vicious dinosaur from the "Jurassic Park" sci-fi thriller. Plopped into contemporary social situations, Raptor gets laughs for his uncouth growls, leaps and propensity to maul people at inappropriate times.

"I like it when I'm doing something and I know that I'm about to get a laugh and I can just tease it out, tease it out -- and then get it," he said.

Schmidt's facility with communicating is connected to his major, Spanish. He said he's always had a knack for languages and has enjoyed not only his Spanish classes but also courses in French and Portuguese.

The next language he plans to learn is German. That's because he just firmed up plans to spend a year in Germany teaching English in a small town outside Munich.

After that, he's not sure; applying to law school is a possibility. Eventually, he wants to act in the Second City comedy theater in Chicago.

"My dream job is to be Conan O'Brien some day," he said.