Introduction: My husband and I enjoy vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains for a variety of reasons, but mostly because we used to go there as kids, and it was the first getaway we ever went on together back in December 2015. For Christmas last year my SIL gifted him the mascot for the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Games, a stuffed raccoon named ‘Roni.’ I do have plans (one day) of writing about serial killer Robert Garrow, who was a rapist, spree killer, and (suspected) serial murderer that was active in the Adirondack area in the early 1970’s (but that time is not now). After committing several rapes, he went on an eighteen-day long killing spree (from July 11–29, 1973) across the Mountains, and stabbed four people to death before he was apprehended. His criminal trial (dubbed ‘the Buried Bodies Case’) became vital in the area of legal ethics after his lawyers refused to disclose the location of the remains of two of his victims, citing ‘attorney–client privilege.’ Garrow was later shot while attempting to escape from prison on September 11, 1978 and died at the age of forty-two.  

Back to Roni: Roni the Raccoon is the mascot of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid that was dreamt up by Don Moss, a renowned sports artist and illustrator that worked for ‘Capital Sports.’ Roni is a raccoon, which is an indigenous woodland critter from the mountainous region of the Adirondacks where Lake Placid is located. The name ‘Roni’s comes from the word ‘racoon’ in Iroquoian, which is the language of the native people from the region of NYS, and was chosen by the children of the Lake Placid school system.

The top part of Roni’s face along with the black-and-white mask around his eyes are a nod to the sunglasses and hat worn by Olympic competitors, and there are different versions of him playing different sports (some even have the five colors of the Olympic rings); he is also the first Olympic mascot to be depicted doing various sports, and was featured on pins and other souvenirs. In the early stages of planning the event Lake Placid had a live four-legged mascot: a raccoon named Rocky, who was (controversially) switched out with Roni shortly before the Games started. The Organizing Committee also used real raccoons to promote The Games, and two residents of Utica Zoo were transported to Lake Placid to participate in a national TV broadcast.

A Life-Sized Roni: serving as the face of the XIII Olympic Winter Games was Hawaiian-American athlete named Kriss Lambert, who performed as Roni Raccoon clad head-to-toe in a six-and-a half-foot tall raccoon costume. Lambert was filmed doing every event (except the ski jump, which he couldn’t do because the mask hindered his vision) before The Games took place, and the prerecorded footage was televised during the Olympics to introduce each event. He also represented the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics at major events like the Macy’s Day Parade, NBC’s ‘Today’ show, and Super Bowl XIV, and he was rink side during the ‘Miracle on Ice’ men’s ice hockey game between USSR and the USA; the USA won 4-3.

Lambert himself dreamt up the idea of portraying a real-life Roni even though there had never been a ‘live’ Olympic mascot before, and he was doing construction work in the Adirondacks before he decided to become a FT Olympic mascot: ‘since I am somewhat of an athlete, I thought it would be a good idea to have a character that could imitate the athletes.’ It’s worth noting that at the age of thirteen in 1973, he won the Junior Olympic gold medal in judo, and he practiced acrobatic skiing for nearly six years (he also ice skated since he was a child). Tragically, Kriss died suddenly on August 30, 2017 at the age of fifty-seven in Puyallup, WA.

Works Cited:
Hale, Don. (February 25, 1980). Roni Raccoon Wins ‘Gold Medal’ in Fun.’ Taken March 23, 2025 from csmonitor.com