Homemade Brutus the Buckeye Costume

I’ve been trying for years to figure out how to make a Brutus the Buckeye costume. I was recently in a parade and our entry was Pirate themed. Of course, being in Ohio and being diehard Buckeye fans, we tried to find a way to incorporate the Buckeyes into it. So I was Captain Brutus. I had to make a Brutus costume first. For the head, I found a large play-ball, about 2’ in diameter, that was in my daughter’s room. I paper-mached it, making sure to leave the air-hole uncovered. After finishing that, I put an air pump needle in the hole and let the air out. I cut a hole just large enough for my head out of the bottom. I also cut a hole out for the mouth so I could see. I went to the hardware store and bought a square foot of replacement window screening. I folded it in half and attached it to the inside of the mouth hole to give it the appearance of still being black. The rest was painted. I found a red and gray rugby shirt and took it to a local sport shop and had BRUTUS put across the chest and large double zeros, “00”, on the back. I got red sweat pants and got “Ohio State” down one side and “Buckeyes” down the other. I got football gloves and turf shoes to match and was good to go! To incorporate the Pirate theme, I simply made an eye patch with cardboard and waist-band elastic, a store bought pirate hat, and a white sash. Of course, for a normal Brutus costume, you would not need those items! Since I was standing, visibility wasn’t an issue but I plan on using this as a Halloween costume and will probably cut the black of the eyes out and put some screen there so I can see better. It was a hit!