Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road? To Get A Laugh!

Photo Courtesy of the Hall of Champions

San Diego’s own Chicken has entertained sports fans all over
the country with his zany antics.

by Johnny Mc Donald

Comics rummage through an assortment of humorous routines to bring laughs. Often, an audience can be hard to please.

A San Diego State student 30 years ago was hired by radio station KGB to don a chicken costume to hand out candy to kids at the San Diego Zoo. From this modest start, a remarkable and unique comical career as the "San Diego Chicken" emerged.

Zany Ted Giannoulas carried out his new role to the extreme — and in some cases, disrupted events at many of the nation’s big arenas. His reward: a chuckle or two.

The affable, acrobatic entertainer donned his feathery outfit again to tell a Hall of Champions Sports at Lunch gathering that it’s about time to reduce his number of appearances this year.

"I’m not ready to retire, but I have been making about 250 performances each year," he said.

Some of those places have been Madison Square Garden, Chicago Stadium, LA Forum and Qualcomm Stadium.

"I’ll probably cut it down to about half of what I’ve done," Giannoulas said. "This is probably my last summer touring coast-to-coast to do 100 baseball games."

Reflecting on his lengthy career, he said: "Only in America can one who was paid $2 an hour by a radio station reach such great heights."

His first stint with the San Diego Padres came in 1974, when McDonald’s entrepreneur Ray Kroc purchased the team.

"I approached them about performing at the stadium and was told it was a great idea," Giannoulas said. "They told me to do anything I wanted."

With his wild antics, Giannoulas said it helps when those around you have a sense of humor.

He recalled last year, when the Padres asked him to come out for the last few games of a dismal season. He was given carte blanche on his assortment of tricks, prodding umpires, wrestling with players and just disrupting the progress of a ball game.

"I thought, the players may look at me and say they don’t have to do this," Giannoulas said. "But they were fantastic and had a great sense of humor. If I never do another sporting event, that was the ultimate."

In his travels, sometimes before tough crowds, he claims San Diego has the most underrated sports fans in America. "They have great balance here," he added. "I’m glad, too, I was around when sports was fun."

Giannoulas said he turned down a "six-figure offer" from TV mogul and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner, and decided to remain in San Diego.

"It was a day when I made some appearances in the country just for an air ticket," he said.

"I pay millions of dollars for ball players and you’re the hardest-working guy out there," he said Turner told him.

"When the Padre players learned of my decision to stay, as a team they picked me up on their shoulders and marched me around the stadium," Giannoulas said.

Winning and losing never got in the way of a good time. The Chicken made sure of that, as he traveled to all 50 states and eight countries.

"Being fired by KGB was the best thing that happened to me, because I started getting invitations from all over the country," he said. "I consider myself very blessed."