Ellie the Elephant isn’t simply the New York Liberty’s mascot — she’s a motion.
From her high-energy dance strikes to her head-turning trend, Ellie represents the whole lot the Liberty stands for: confidence, fashion and the spirit of New York Metropolis. (Watch the total interview above.)
“Ellie exemplifies who we’re as a staff. Clearly, she’s our mascot, however I believe she’s greater than that. I believe she embodies New York,” Sabrina Ionescu, level guard for the Liberty, advised HuffPost.
And the staff agrees: Ellie is elevating the bar for what a mascot may be.
“Ellie is not only the most effective mascot within the league — [she’s] the most effective mascot in all sports activities historical past,” mentioned Kennedy Burke, a guard for the Liberty.
Ellie’s impression extends far past sport day. In 2024, she was featured in over 200 tales, with spotlights in Vogue and Billboard, and even graced the duvet of Time Out New York. She additionally made historical past as the primary skilled sports activities mascot to have her personal float within the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Ellie’s fashion sport is simply as highly effective as her strikes on the court docket. She grew to become Essie’s first-ever brand “spokesperson” and has turn into a method icon, mixing streetwear, magnificence and tradition in a approach that displays the WNBA’s boundary-pushing identification.
“It’s fairly particular to see how she’s been in a position to take the style world by storm, the wonder world by storm, how she’s simply built-in in road put on, tradition, trend, fashion,” Ionescu mentioned. “She’s sort of identical to how we’re.”
Ellie’s vitality isn’t only for present — it feeds the staff and the followers.
“I really feel like she will get the gang hype, after which that, like, interprets to us after we’re on the ground,” mentioned Rebekah Gardner, a Liberty guard.
In a league of trailblazers, Ellie is correct at residence. As Gardner put it: “What Ellie has executed as a mascot is, like, trendsetting, and as a league, we’re trendsetters too.”
