The Temple Owls Swoop Into Elmwood Park
By Molly Daly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls paid a visit to Norristown Sunday for the Elmwood Park Zoo's Sports Day.
Stella, the Great Horned Owl, played hostess to the football Owls and their spirit team. When she's not mesmerizing zoo visitors with her penetrating amber eyes and unruffled demeanor, Stella can be found on the sidelines of Temple home games.
Elmwood Park Executive Director Al Zone praises the friendly mascot.
"Stella's been the mascot now for three seasons," Elmwood said. "She was just named last year the fifth most popular flighted mascot in NCAA, which is also great."
Members of the football team and spirit squad posed for pictures, signed autographs, and checked out the critters, with the relatively new resident Red Pandas getting the lion's share of the attention.
Outside linebacker Avery Williams was in his element.
"Well, I haven't been to the zoo since I was like, 10 years old, so I'm really excited to be at the zoo," Williams said. "And it's a blessing to see everybody come out and support us, see all our fans in the local Philadelphia area."
Kids, adults, and spirit team members stopped to admire Stella -- who didn't give a hoot. But 9-year-old Zach Peterson of Kennett Square, did, and reminisced about his first visit, when he was much younger.
"I love going to Elmwood, because I was here in 2nd grade, for our field trip," Peterson said. "Back then I never went here before. So I saw it, I went, 'Huh! This is a neat little zoo, actually.' It's a wonderful zoo."
