‘Lending A Paw’ (Joe Murphy - NBAE/Getty Images)

Fans of the Utah Jazz are used to being in the company of winners. The Jazz Bear is an award winning mascot and a vital part of this group, in fact he helps nudge the Jazz to victory in close games with his enthusiasm and ability to engage the crowd at the Energy Solutions Arena.

Since the 1994-95 season, Bear has been the Jazz mascot. Utah’s Jazz Bear received the 2006 Mascot of the Year award, voted on by his peers, he won the Mascot Leadership Award from the NBA in 2005 and 2006. The Bear was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2007. He makes more than 300 community appearances each year. Recently, the Bear has joined his peers in an admirable gesture to one of their own.

On April 8th, 2008 the bear entertained fans at a different arena; the FedEx Forum in Memphis. Eric McMahon, also known as Grizz, the team Mascot for the Memphis Grizzlies, has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He took leave of absence from his duties with the Grizzlies in order to begin treatment for his illness. Because of this, he was unable to appear at any games or community activities on behalf of the team.

Starting in February, several of McMahon’s mascot peers began to entertain the fans at every home game, continuing until the end of the season. A different mascot appears at each game, and each mascot is traveling to Memphis at their own expense or at the expense of their own team. The Grizzlies organization has created the “Friends of Grizz” program which helps patients of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and their families to attend each home game. In further exhibits of solidarity, the Grizzlies players wear Grizz’s ‘00′ jersey number on a patch on their warm-ups. “Friends of Grizz” wristbands are also being sold by the Grizzlies organization, and proceeds from the sales go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Fans who wish to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital can visit their website, www.stjude.org.

The Bear helped the Grizzlies versus the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. The fans in Memphis were let in on one of our secret weapons here in Jazztown, and we are proud to share our mascot for such a worthy cause.