“The beak is still the same and the fur is still the same color,” says Ted Giannoulas, the man inside the suit.
Indeed, the yellow head and legs, orange torso and blue hair on his head look now just as they did that June evening in 1979, when he emerged from a 10-foot egg that had been delivered to the stadium on top of a Brink’s truck while the theme music from “2001: A Space Odyssey” played over the sound system.
More than 47,000 fans showed up that night to see the pregame hatching, Giannoulas’ rebirth as “The San Diego Chicken” after spending his first five years as the mascot for radio station KGB.
A sellout crowd of 41,371 showed up this past Saturday night to see The Chicken perform at Petco Park during the Giants-Padres game — and get a Chicken bobblehead. It was his first full-game performance here in more than a decade.
“It’s very, very exciting,” Giannoulas said during an interview earlier in the week. “I’m feeling the energy from emails I’m getting from people. It’s incredible.
“It makes me feel 21 years old again. There’s a vitality and an electricity that I’m feeling. ... I’m going to speculate that Saturday night is going to feel like Christmas morning.”
Giannoulas is 65 and a demanding schedule that used to see him make more than 250 appearances each year around the nation — and the world — has been drastically reduced.
“I can’t even predict for next year,” Giannoulas said. “I’m taking it one year at a time to see how my chicken bones hold up.”
Obviously, he is in the twilight of his career, but he has not yet seriously considered how and when to hang it up.
“When I get out there,” Giannoulas said, “there’s an adrenaline rush that goes through you that the audience gives you with their laughter, their applause, their good faith.”
The moment is magnified when performing in his hometown.
In the second inning Saturday night, the Chicken was cheered from the moment he entered the ballpark along the left-field foul line.
A vintage 1967 Camaro convertible delivered him onto the field as Spanish matador music played on the sound system. He got out of the car as the song segued into “Gimme Some Lovin’ ” while he moved to the music, accompanied by three other dancers.
At the end of the inning, The Chicken re-emerged, followed by four little chicks. It is arguably his most popular routine.
The Chicken has made more than 17,000 appearances over 45 years, performing in all 50 states, seven Canadian provinces and nine countries, including Australia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands and Spain.
In 1974, local radio station KGB planned a promotion to give away candy Easter eggs to children at the San Diego Zoo. But first, the station had to find someone willing to wear the chicken suit it had rented to be worn at the event.
So KGB sent an employee out to San Diego State to find someone else for the job. That someone was Giannoulas, then a journalism major at the university.
When the two-week gig at the zoo ended, Giannaoulas got the idea to wear the suit to Padres games.
When he walked up to the gate for the home opener, Giannoulas was stopped at the gate by a security guard who placed a phone call to Buzzie Bavasi, the Padres president.
“There’s a man in a chicken suit here,” Bavasi was told.
“Does he have a ticket?” Bavasi asked.
“Yes,” said the security guard.
“Then let him in,” Bavasi said.
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