Kenn Solomon, the original Rocky the Mountain Lion, was the Denver Nuggets’ beloved mascot for over three decades, entertaining fans with jaw-dropping stunts and hilarious antics. But in 2013, one of his stunts went dangerously wrong, leaving 16,000 fans watching in horror as a seemingly “lifeless” Rocky was lowered onto the court.
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Solomon, who retired three years ago, recounted the terrifying pre-game incident at Pepsi Center. The stunt was intended to mimic a “landing on the moon,” said the 58-year-old on PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT.
Solomon was supposed to make a grand entrance and be lowered from the arena rafters in a harness. He was wearing a full-body safety rig under his costume for added protection. Despite many rehearsals, he made a critical mistake.
“I stepped off the top beam and, all of a sudden, I realized my jacket was zipped up still. I was supposed to unzip it. So, if you can imagine the rope going through your collar – and, all of a sudden, that collar is just digging into my neck.“
“All I thought was ‘That hurts so bad,” Solomon told Torre’s podcast audience. “It was like a full-on MMA chokehold,” he recounted, adding that all he wanted was to touch the ground. As Torre remarked, it must have felt “like a noose,” Solomon replied, “Yeah.”
Midway through his descent, Solomon lost consciousness. The next thing he remembered was waking up “on the court, it’s all black and I hear faintly ‘Rocky are you OK?’.” But he recovered quickly. “I jumped up, slapped my guy on the back” and “took off.”
According to TheDenverChannel, Rocky was meant to descend with a spotlight on him before the Nuggets’ season opener. But the “fans were horrified when a lifeless Rocky was lowered to the center court.”
The spotlight was quickly cut and the Nuggets announced that Rocky “had the wind knocked out of him and would be out for the remainder of the game.”
Fans were relieved to learn that Rocky was fine and that he would be back after a one-game break.
Despite this scare, and breaking his back in another stunt, Solomon continued to entertain kids and adults. He was known as one of the greatest backward half-court shooters – even in his mountain lion suit.
Particularly memorable was his long-running playful feud with basketball legend Charles Barkley. Solomon, who won many accolades during his career including induction into the Mascot Hall of Fame, ended up hanging up his paws in 2021, passing the mascot role to his son, Drake Solomon.
Kenn briefly came out of retirement two years later when he suited up for the NBA finals in which the Nuggets clinched their first-ever league championship.
“I’ve been blessed,” said Kenn, reflecting on his career, and the championship garnish with which it ended.
