Meet the Longhorn Behind an Unlikely Austin FC Halftime Star

Swift Sparks is a sidekick for an armadillo named Speed Bump. And he’s absolutely happy with that. “When my son asked me if I’m famous because I’ve been on TV a lot in the last couple of years,” Sparks says, “I have to explain to him, ‘No, not really. Maybe a little bit.’ It’s really Speed Bump that’s famous.” The 6-year-old armadillo—gaining newfound notoriety as the unofficial mascot of Austin FC, Austin’s Major League Soccer club—is the latest in a line of armadillos named Speed Bump going back 40 years of Sparks family history. Swift, BA ’09, is the third generation in his family to carry the name Swift Sparks, and he runs the Sparks Agency, a Western-themed entertainment venture, with his father. Armadillos have been central to their business even before its inception: In 1986, Sparks’ father organized armadillo races to help fete the Texas Sesquicentennial.  

“Armadillo care in my youth was one of my first real chores—nightly feeding and watering and cleaning their habitat. That kind of thing,” he recalls. “Obviously, it’s a very unusual way to make a living, but it just seems natural to me.” He notes that while armadillos in the wild typically live to 10 or 12 years old,  those cared for and kept from predators  can live into their late teens or early 20s.  

Speed Bump’s rise to fame came in 2023, when Sparks staged an armadillo race that caught an Austin FC representative’s eye, at Skinny’s Off Track Bar, a now-defunct East Austin hangout. At the time, the club was preparing to release its new “Armadillo Kit,” the shirt the club would wear primarily for away matches during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.  Through a longstanding league-wide deal between Major League Soccer and Adidas, each team releases home and away uniforms in alternating years. The Armadillo Kit is an homage to Armadillo World Headquarters, the legendary music venue best known as the place where Willie Nelson galvanized Austin’s eclectic music scene in 1972.  

The cream-colored jersey with green accents, including an armadillo on the lower left corner of the jersey front, got a high-profile release party at ACL Live on Feb. 15, 2024—and Sparks and Speed Bump got to be part of a celebration that included live music from Asleep at the Wheel, Gary P. Nunn, and William Beckmann, as well as appearances by Austin FC players modeling the new jersey.  

From there, Austin FC extended the invitation to Sparks and Speed Bump to appear at home matches. By 2025, the duo had coined their own ritual at the tail end of halftime, akin to the bell ringing at theater and opera events at the end of intermissions, letting audience members know they need to get back to their seats.  Only, instead of an arpeggio played on a miniature xylophone, the cue is the opening instrumental section of Pharoahe Monch’s “Simon Says,” a remix that places the classic “Godzilla Approaches” musical motif from Akira Ifukube’s 1954 film score over a hip-hop beat. An animated short of a giant armadillo walking through a city fills Q2 Stadium’s video screen before cutting to live footage of Sparks and Speed Bump at field level.  

“We’ve done the majority of the home matches,” Sparks says. “I clear my schedule, or come very close to clearing my schedule, so I can be a part of it. It’s so much fun, and a really cool experience.”  

Ensuring Speed Bump’s well-being has been a priority from the start for both Sparks and Austin FC. Sparks—who likens the arrangement to The University’s long-term stewardship of Bevo—retains the right to remove the armadillo from the field if he appears stressed and makes sure he has his own space, separate from crowds. He credits Austin FC with sharing that concern.Thankfully armadillos, like longhorns, are hardy creatures.

Sparks and Speed Bump have also joined other Austin FC events, including an October 2024 welcome party for new head coach Nico Estévez. Such opportunities allow for Sparks to introduce children to Speed Bump.  

“I love it when we get the chance to come and interact with kids,” he says. “They’re fascinated by armadillos, and they often have really good questions. And I love children,” noting that he has a 6-year-old of his own: Swift Sparks IV, who goes by “Ivy.”

“It’s always fun to see folks smiling and excited,” he says of Speed Bump’s appeal. “At the stadium, folks know who he is, and you’ll hear people shout his name from 50 yards away.”  

Though the Armadillo Kit made its final appearance in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, 2025, during a best-of-three playoff series Austin FC lost to LAFC, Sparks and Speed Bump still plan to be a part of the motley mascot mix for the club in 2026. Initially opting to feature different “Mascot of the Match” pups from Austin Pets Alive! throughout the season, the club has also debuted a human mascot named Verdisimo, a Lucha Libre–styled wrestler who roams the stadium during home matches to drum up fan support.

But Speed Bump developed enough cred of his own to have been included in the 2025 MLS All-Star Game mascot gathering, which included the Philadelphia Union’s Phang, a snake with arms modeled after the Benjamin Franklin “join or die” cartoon; and Charlotte FC’s Sir Minty, a soccer ball with a crown, arms, and a silver medallion around its neck.  

While Sparks finds it amusing to be the straight man to an armadillo who stars in a minute-long halftime show, he also realizes that by virtue of what he’s carved out for himself, his image is in hundreds if not thousands of cell phones.

“I’ve had friends who will be on dating apps and they’ll match with somebody, and there’ll be a photo of me with Speed Bump and the person they’ve matched with,” Sparks says, noting this has happened on four different occasions.  

UT is central to Sparks’ own love story. He arrived on campus in 2005 from Wills Point, noting that there were more people in his Jester West dormitory than in his East Texas hometown. He met his future wife Sarah in a literature class. “I was right in the middle of not being a very good student,” he admits, “and missed a lot of that class.”  

The following semester, Sparks was doing dishes in his duplex north of campus when he saw Sarah in his backyard with her mom, checking out the duplex for rent above his. She soon moved in, along with a cat that was not interested in remaining on its side of the duplex. “The cat kind of brought us together and made us reconnect,” Sparks recalls.  

As matters developed, that cat was one of two four-legged mammals that would transform Sparks’ life.  

CREDITS: Matt Wright-Steel; Courtesy of Swift Sparks