“Jack’s already been walked [today], so he might not be that cooperative,” Walid Khalifeh (SFS ‘08), told me when we picked up Georgetown’s mascot from the lobby of the Jesuit residence. “As you might know, bulldogs are not the most energetic of dogs.”
Khalifeh grabbed some dog biscuits from Jack’s little cubby, Brother Curry’s Miraculous Dog Biscuits, all natural and locally made, of course.
“I think Jack is one of the luckiest animals in the world,” Khalifeh said.
Khalifeh, Jack and I stuck to Southwest Quad for his walk that afternoon. Khalifeh wanted to conserve Jack’s energy—that evening he would attend a charity masquerade ball in Copley Hall sans costume, since a mask or hat wouldn’t work. Jack doesn’t like to be too constrained.
Jack, whose full name is John S. Carroll, resides in New South with Father Christopher Steck during the night, and hangs out in the lobby of Wolfington by day.
It’s not uncommon for Jack to appear at various university-sanctioned events, so long as they don’t happen on the same day as a basketball game. Jack’s schedule is cleared for those days—at halftime he has to rip apart a box with the opposing team’s logo, which, Khalifeh said, is really the easiest part of Jack’s job as a mascot.
“He loves it,” Khalifeh said. “He just likes to tear apart boxes.”
Jack mostly attends games on Harbin field so as not to tire his stubby legs negotiating the steps to Kehoe Field. Later, on the way to the ball, we rode to Copley Hall from the Jesuit Residence in his own personal golf cart. Khalifeh drove, Jack sat in the front seat, and I took the back.
Like any diva, Jack is temperamental, and he loves the camera. At the ball, groups of girls in their best dresses and heels knelt down next to Jack for a picture, and he knew exactly when to stand still and look right at the camera; as soon as the flash went off he usually went straight for the plastic masks.
“He’s trying to get at anything right now,” Khalifeh said, indicating that they would have to leave soon—after 20 or 30 minutes at an event Jack tends to get tired or antsy.
I couldn’t help but wonder where a celebrity like Jack chooses to do his ‘business.’
“Any post or tree works,” Khalifeh said. “Sometimes he just refuses to pee.”
Brigit McLaughlin (COL ’10), one of Jack’s walkers since the beginning of the semester, was also at the ball. When she was trying out to be a walker, Steck made her sing the fight song beginning in the middle—school spirit is an essential. Steck also tested McLaughlin on how well she could keep Jack away from cones, and if he got a hold of one, if she could get him off of it.
“He loves to hump cones,” McLaughlin explained.
