Moondog: How the Cavaliers mascot pays homage to rock-n-roll icon Alan Freed
CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers didn’t plan to have a dog as their mascot. But when a 6-foot, 200-pound canine showed up at what is now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in 2003 claiming to be a huge fan of the team, it was the perfect fit.
When this dog showed up, he had a bite out of one of his ears. He had a crescent above his left eye — and also on his butt. And he wore shorts, and sometimes a full basketball uniform.
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“When we’re trying to do things,” said Tracy Marek, the chief marketing officer for the Cavs, “we work really hard to make it very authentic to the community.”
The mascot’s name, “Moondog,” was chosen with a similar thought in mind: The team wanted to create an authentic connection between the dog and the city of Cleveland.
It’s a bit of a long story.
See, in the early 1950s (or about 490 dog years ago), Alan Freed was a famous radio disc jockey in Cleveland. Freed is credited with coining the term “rock ’n’ roll” and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. Jason Hanley, the vice president of education and visitor engagement at the Rock Hall, said Freed earned the honor despite not being a musician because of his influence on the history of rock ’n’ roll, especially in Cleveland.
Freed found his start in radio in Akron, but his career blossomed at WJW in Cleveland in 1951. Freed met Leo Mintz, who ran a store in town called Record Rendezvous. Through conversations, they discussed an idea to help sell new blues and R&B records on a radio show.
Freed’s goal was to create a late-night show that teenagers would tune in to for the new music that was aired. In the 1950s, the teenage culture was beginning to become more and more influential, Hanley said, and Freed was using his show to program directly to that age group.
Freed decided on a theme song called “Moondog’s Symphony,” by a street musician who went by the name of Moondog. Freed called himself the “King of the Moondoggers,” and his radio show was called “The Moondog House.” Each night when Freed opened his show, he would howl over the instrumental music. Then, he would play a mix of original R&B, doo-wop, blues and other records. He also created what was called “the big beat,” with Freed banging on a telephone book along with the rhythm of the record to mimic the sound of a big bass drum. Hanley said much of this was seen as controversial, and Freed’s show was seen as rebellious.
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Another delicate issue with Freed and his show: With segregation still very much a part of the United States at the time, Freed would play the music of Black artists. As a result, he created a large following of both African American and White fans. Hanley said Freed decided to give this style a name and pulled out a phrase that surrounded blues music. He began to call the tunes he played “rock ’n’ roll.”
“You can’t really say rock ’n’ roll began in one place because rock ’n’ roll is really a mixture of all sorts of regional styles of music. It’s a mixture of country music, it’s a mixture of blues and gospel and jazz and folk music, and all of these things come together,” Hanley said. “But the fact that Alan Freed here in Cleveland gave it its name and promoted it as such is a big point in music history.”
From a marketing standpoint, Marek said the Cavs have not dedicated much of their time to the rock-’n’-roll component. Rather, they’ve allowed it to create layers to Moondog and the underlying connection he has with Cleveland’s history.
“I think that he ultimately personifies the personality of the city,” Marek said. “And I think that that’s one of the things that we love because we’re very proud of the fact that when we get to the core basis of who the Cavaliers are and who the city of Cleveland is, we feel as though there are just so many parallels. Just about how hardworking and how dedicated to our community and just how focused on uplifting our market (he) is.”
Moondog gets up for a huge jam during a timeout in 2018. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)The connection also lives on through the Moondog Coronation Ball, an annual concert held in Cleveland. It was started by Freed, Mintz and Lew Platt in 1952 and was the first major rock-’n’-roll concert held at the old Cleveland Arena.
In the time leading up to the event, Freed, Mintz and their other partners started to see how successful the event was going to be based on the tickets sold. Hanley said they each started to add additional tickets to the inventory available, and they ended up overselling the Cleveland Arena by double the number of people who could fit.
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“Historically, if you look it up, the first Moondog Coronation Ball is known for having a riot,” Hanley said. “What really happened was that double the amount of people showed up, (many) weren’t able to get in, and they had all these people just standing in the street wanting to get in. And the police had to come down and actually shut the concert down and send everybody home halfway through the show. That’s pretty good for a first rock-’n’-roll show, though, getting shut down.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has worked in conjunction with Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and the radio station Majic 105.7 to help bring artists and Rock Hall inductees to promote the event and play at the concert. Hanley said one of the main reasons the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is even in Cleveland is to honor the history of Freed, who died in 1965, and the Moondog Coronation Ball.
Freed’s controversial and energetic spirit has been passed down to the Cavs’ Moondog, in Marek’s mind. Whether it’s in his half-court shots, gravity-defying dunks or tender interactions with fans and opposing players, Moondog is passionate about Cleveland. He will challenge players to long-range shooting contests or wear a large cone around his neck after a run-in with a player during warmups. His interactions with the crowd bring entertainment to Cavs games, and he is well on his way to becoming a true Cleveland icon.
“Alan Freed picks (the name) from a street performer called Moondog,” Hanley said. “He calls himself the King of the Moondoggers for his radio show. And then the Cavs mascot is named after Alan Freed. So it’s like the next generation down the line.”
(Top photo: David Liam Kyle / NBAE via Getty Images)
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