Looking up at the tall, striking blue Fightin’ Titan, it’s unlikely that many students would think: “I bet he’s got some kind of connection to Taylor Swift.” The funny thing is, that thought is not as far off as it might seem. A little digging into Papio South lore reveals that the school mascot and the pop music sensation both have sported looks crafted by Omaha-area costume designer Carole Zacek, whose work also has appeared in the Quentin Tarantino film “The Hateful Eight” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
The blue Titan’s origin story started when Papio South’s first drama teacher and Traditions Committee chairman, Jeff Nienhueser, reached out to Zacek, with whom he had collaborated on costumes for student productions. Not long after the school opened in 2003, the Traditions Committee was given the task to create the mascot, as the principal of the time, Enid Schonewise, did not want it to be a blow up mascot.
“I asked Carol… We both did research, and Carol really came up with the design,” Nienhueser said.
Zacek’s experience at the time included making costumes at the Emmy Gifford Children’s Theater (now The Rose Theater), where she had created a number of animal heads for productions.
Even as an experienced costumer, Zacek said mascot creation was a lengthy process, and not one to be taken lightly.
“It was a lot of patience on Papillion La Vista South’s part, and my part working with it. It [was]… 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration, because you’re just tearing your hair out making it work,” she said on a recent Friday in November, when she was reunited with her Titan creation.
“I can’t believe that he’s still in use. It’s so fabulous,” Zacek said. She examined the mascot closely, and found that he was still relatively intact. “I think that he really withstood time.”
Zacek’s career has taken many colorful turns since her time at Papio South. For Taylor Swift’s Diet Coke Red Tour, back in 2013, Zacek recalled altering Swift’s white-and-black polka dot skirt, after the first version was fitting poorly.
“I used to do, and I still do, some competitive ice skate wear,” Zacek explained, “so I said, ‘I could do this like a skating skirt.’”
The alteration ended up successful, and the original skirt was discarded. Unbeknownst to Zacek, she ended up taking Swift’s rejected skirt with her when she packed her supplies, amid scraps of fabric. She later remade the skirt for a friend’s 8-year-old daughter, who was going to a Taylor Swift concert for her birthday.
That type of creative thinking carries through all of Zacek’s work and her storytelling.
“When it comes to making a mascot, the magic is trying to give heart,” Zacek said, returning to the subject of the Fightin’ Titan. “Something to the face, so that … children won’t be afraid of it.”
The process of trying, failing, and refining the project was one Zacek became familiar with as she drafted two versions of the Fightin’ Titan. The “rough draft” beta version, which was unveiled in a pep rally at the start of the 2007-2008 school year, was quite different from the now familiar persona.
Though the Fightin’ Titan has maintained its same blue appearance, the clothing and body structure were drastically different between the two versions. “The first one… had a very muscular upper body, which kind of had a toga part draped on him, and it even had this kind of almost like a belt,” Zacek said in recalling her original creation. “I think the skirt part of it was kind of like a gladiator skirt… like a Titan.”
The detail work included defined folds in his hands, and a plastic “T’ the mascot carried around. At its debut, this version was far from perfect. It was described as a combination of heavy and hot, requiring the wearer to use ice packs to keep cool inside of it. The process of wearing it was also quite complicated, as there was a separating zipper at the waist, but a belt on top of that. Due to those issues, this rendition did not last.
“We changed it so it was easier to wear and use,” Nienhueser said. “The original was quite a process to get it on and off.”
With her first draft, Zacek had aimed to fully encapsulate her ideas of “Titans,” but she was relieved when the district wanted to go a different direction.
“I didn’t want to do anything else like that ever again,” Zacek said.
Even with the district’s feedback, the mascot creation process was largely individual. This gave Zacek creative liberty to rebuild her Titan, , this time without the typical toga and muscles.
“I wanted him to have cheekbones. I wanted him to have a nice nose. Kind of like, when I think of Titan, I think of Poseidon, et cetera, from mythology. So I put the little lightning bolts on for eyebrows,” she explained.
The biggest difficulties didn’t come from making the parts, but from creating symmetry across the face, she said. She mainly had done costume alterations at that point in her career, and the process looked much different when trying to sculpt a face.
Eventually, her efforts culminated in the Fightin’ Titan students now know, although a few pieces have worn out over the years and are no longer in use, namely, his gauntlets, which had a Titan emblem on the design that has since faded. .
With such an extensive costume career, and more projects to come in the future, Zacek has had a mix of simple and complex jobs, and even more chances to be exposed to new ideas.
On “The Hateful Eight” she worked as a set costumer for actor Bruce Dern, and also made alterations for other actors such as Michael Madsen and Samuel L. Jackson.
For “Killers of the Flower Moon,” she mostly did laundry for the many background actors, although she also made costume alterations for star Leonardo DiCaprio.
In early November, Zacek was busy preparing the Trans Siberian Orchestra for its holiday season.
“Trans Siberian Orchestra has now become a very, very, very fun thing,” she said, explaining that she began working consistently with the orchestra in 2017.
Still, looking back at her creation for Papio South, Zacek’s enthusiasm remained unfaded. Even after all this time, she said she would only want to do touchups on the Fightin’ Titan head – maybe fix up what was already there.
“I wouldn’t really change much of anything at all,” Zacek said.
