Man Behind San Antonio Spurs 'Coyote' Mascot Retires

The San Antonio Spurs are saying farewell to a franchise veteran who is not named Tim Duncan.

Rob Wicall, the man behind the team's Coyote mascot, is retiring after almost two decades behind the mask. And to honor the end of an era, ESPN's Zach Lowe spoke to the longtime mascot about some of his career highlights.

Requests for funeral appearances were apparently common from fans, but Wicall only ever agreed to one—a wake, to be exact—"just to say [he] had done it all."

"The guy was a huge Spurs fan, and his family had this big photo of him in Spurs gear," he said. "I just held up this big photo of the deceased, and people took photos of me holding that photo. It was so awkward."

He also noted a time when he faced a steaming Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. Here is his version of the story:

"

During a Spurs-Dallas game, when I was brand-new, Mark Cuban came out on the court during a timeout to yell at the referees. I gave my assistant a signal to throw me this oversized baby rattle, so I could reach it toward him: "You're a baby."

And, oh my god, he looked at me with crazy eyes and mouthed, "NO! No, Coyote!" He was pissed. I was like, "OK, I'm backing off."

But as I go to toss the rattle back to my assistant, he's already tossing me the oversized baby bottle we have -- like, it's in midair, so I have to catch it. I turned around, and honestly, I thought there might be steam coming out of Mark's ears. I just ran off the court.

"

[ESPN]