If you've ever attended a Hawkeyes football game, you may have seen the man dressed as Elvis singing the hits.
Who is he? To his fans, he’s “Hawkeye Elvis.” But beneath the sunglasses and black, styled wig, he’s Greg Suckow, a Minneapolis-based attorney working in real estate.
Suckow and his character are also the stars of a new documentary by filmmaker Skyler Knutzen, Elvis isn’t Dead.
Suckow was inspired to create the character, appropriately, at a Hawkeye game. After seeing people in the crowd wearing Elvis-themed black-and-gold costumes on Halloween over a decade ago, Suckow went home and asked his mother, Margaret, if she could make him his own Elvis jumpsuit — and she went all in.
"Had my mom not worked for the DOT [Department of Transportation] for 25 years, she could have easily gone to Hollywood and worked in the costume department of any TV or movie studio, because she would always hand-make her grandkids' Halloween costumes," Suckow said on IPR's Talk of Iowa. "She made me a black-and-gold jumpsuit, and I wore it to a game in October of 2010, and that's how it all started."
Suckow started wearing the costume to a few Hawkeye basketball and football games each year. And when we wouldn't wear the costume, people noticed. "When I wouldn't wear it, people in my section would go 'Hey, wait a minute — how come Elvis isn't here? We need Elvis here today!'" he recalled.
And it's not just the costume that gets people excited — Suckow sings, too. He says the impression comes naturally after listening to and watching Elvis for so many years.
"I have Sirius XM in my car, and the Elvis radio channel is one I listened to almost exclusively while I'm driving around,” he said.
A deeper connection
Suckow's love for Elvis came from one special person in his life: his mom.
He says the two of them enjoyed traveling to football games together long before Hawkeye Elvis came to be.
"Iowa played at Arizona State 20 years ago, and so Mom and I flew down there and went to the game, and that's always just kind of been our thing," he said.
Suckow said when the two of them would make the drives to and from Iowa City for a game, they enjoyed listening to old country music (and Elvis, of course), making jokes and talking about the game.
"To be able to sort of blend these things that we love and have it come into everything that this has become has been kind of neat,” Suckow said.
When attention started growing around Hawkeye Elvis, Suckow said his mom was the one who kept him humble.
"She's not going to let my ego or my head get too big, which is nice to sort of keep me in check," Suckow recalled with a chuckle.
But now, being Hawkeye Elvis is a part of Suckow’s identity.
"I really look at this as a performance, or a job, that I love. When I roll into Iowa City and I'm dressed, I kinda consider myself on the clock, and my head gets into that performance mode."
"I really look at this as a performance, or a job, that I love. When I roll into Iowa City and I'm dressed, I kinda consider myself on the clock, and my head gets into that performance mode."
Suckow said his mother would bring a handheld tally counter to games, to see how many people took a picture with him in a day. Suckow says it’s often in the hundreds, and when the Hawkeyes played at the 2016 Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, fans asked Suckow for well over 600 pictures.
It’s these moments with his mom that Suckow holds most dear, as Margaret’s health is deteriorating due to Alzheimer’s disease.
Their shared love for Elvis’ music goes beyond enjoyment — studies show listening to music brings many benefits for people living with dementia.
"It really kind of shows how much Elvis as an artist is cross-generational," Suckow said. "It's something that her and I have really been connected to and able to have together over the years, which is really kind of unique."
Making a documentary
As Hawkeye Elvis continued to bring smiles to faces, documentary filmmaker Skyler Knutzen saw an opportunity to tell a story.
Initially, that story was simple: it was about a man who dressed up as Elvis to attend football games. But as Knutzen started to spend more time with Suckow, he learned how big of a role Margaret played in his life.
Knutzen said filming the interactions and conversations between Suckow and his mother "really sprung the film forward." He spent over two years filming these moments, which he edited down into a 10-minute documentary film that shows everything from the excitement at Hawkeye games to the more intimate moments where Suckow opens up about his mother's health.
Suckow says it's bittersweet to watch the film now. No longer able to live independently, his mother has moved into a memory care unit. He knows that he won't have the opportunity to live those experiences with his mother again, but says he's thankful to have those memories on film.
"How often do you get to have someone record your private intimate moments with somebody you love and have that forever?" he said.
Elvis Isn't Dead is also available here on Youtube from NOWNESS.
