Updated at 3:39 p.m.
Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky is known for his high-flying acrobatics on the court during games at Ball Arena.
Now, he — or at least the man who used to wear the suit — is hitting another court, this one of law. He’s suing Nuggets owner Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
Drake Solomon filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court Wednesday afternoon alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after undergoing total hip replacement surgery during the 2023-2024 season. Solomon alleges the team held tryouts for a new performer to wear the famous mountain lion suit for the following season despite doctors giving him a clean bill of health.
Solomon claims he was terminated after tryouts and was presented a severance agreement that violates state law. The lawsuit said that it violated nearly every provision of the Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights Act.
Solomon said in the court filing that he filed the lawsuit on behalf of himself and other KSE employees who have been presented with similar severance agreements since the passage of POWR Act.
Family of mascots
Solomon is the son of the original Rocky, Kenn Solomon, who served as the "super mascot" for decades.
Kenn’s father had been a yell leader for Brigham Young University. Meanwhile, Kenn had been the mascot for Utah State University, Big Blue. While in Denver for a summer internship at the Rocky Mountain News, he cold called the Denver Nuggets expressing interest in becoming their mascot. When the team decided to employ a mascot, Kenn Solomon got the job in 1990.
Rocky’s incredible stunts and high-flying act during Nuggets home games has made him one of the most beloved mascots in all of sports. He was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2008.
“My dad has done a lot of crazy stunts and he's more of a daredevil than an adrenaline junkie," Drake said. “And I was kind of the same way to a certain extent.”
So, when Kenn Solomon retired in 2021, he passed the suit to his son Drake, who grew up around the Nuggets. His dad brought him onto the court when he was two weeks old. He said his favorite players were Kenneth Faried and Earl Boykins.
He never really pursued taking over for his dad until after high school, when he began working for the Nuggets in 2012.
“When I saw the effect my dad had on fans as Rocky, I fell in love with it,” Drake said.
Drake started out with the organization as a trampoline dunk artist and a member of the Promo Squad. He also served as backup Rocky and his father’s game-night assistant.
When Kenn retired, Drake was the only person invited to perform in a closed-door tryout for the position.
One of his favorite in-game moments was during the 2021-22 season, when he caught a football pass from former Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, who happened to be sitting courtside that night.
“Me and my dad are in the back hallway, he's throwing a football to me and I'm catching it, just trying to get used to that and seeing the football," Drake said. “Then I went out and I caught the football from Peyton Manning from across the court. So, that was probably one of my favorite moments.”
Off the court, Drake said the best part of the job was community work like visiting Children's Hospital, the regional veterans' hospital and rehabilitation centers. He remembers a recent visit with two children who had lost their parents in a car crash.
“It was a very gloomy, sad room, understandably, because they just went through something so tragic and Rocky was able to go in there and somehow put a smile on their face and give them some cool things to take home,” Drake said. “But, really it's about giving people an experience and turning negatives into positives and just making people's lives more happy.”
Drake’s other siblings have gone into the family business. His older brother is currently the Hooper, the mascot for the Detroit Pistons. He has a younger brother who worked as his game assistant.
Being Rocky can be rocky.
Rocky is arguably one of the most physically demanding mascot jobs in all of sports. While Drake saw the positives that came with when his dad wore the suit, he also saw the bad side.
He said his dad broke his back ankle and tore his rotator cuff while on the job. He admits that it takes a toll on the body.
“It's part of the job and that's why we love to do it and entertain the fans,” Drake said. “Give them exactly what they pay for when they come because I know tickets are expensive. And so, we wanna give 'em the best show possible and connect with them.”
And soon, hip pain emerged for Drake.
According to court documents, Drake began experiencing hip pain during the Nuggets’ NBA Championship season in 2022-2023.
During his first season, he said he hadn't experience any issues related to his hip. But he started experiencing major hip pain in November 2022.
“It eventually turned into both hips,” Drake said.
Doctors diagnosed him with avascular necrosis, which is death of bone tissue due to the lack of blood supply.
He was given two options: bilateral core decompression surgery or total hip replacement. He chose the former. Doctors had advised against the hip replacement surgery at age 29.
“The reason I chose that surgery is because [my doctors] gave me a 50 percent chance of it working for the next five to 10 years. So, I wanted to take that chance on my body,” Drake said.
Drake underwent bilateral core decompression surgery in March 2023. Kenn came out of retirement to finish up the season as Rocky. The Nuggets won their first championship that year — a bittersweet experience for the family.
“He finally got his championship win after 33 years,” Drake said of his father. Drake continued as Rocky for the 2023-2024 season. But the hip pain continued.
At times, he said there were tears under the mask.
“It was getting to the point where I would be out on the court throwing half-court shots and not being able to squat all the way down,” Drake said. “There's many times I was in tears out there just because … the pain was so excruciating, and I'd have to go to the back and take off the head and, I'd just have tears running down my face.”
Finally, medical professionals said he would need total hip replacement surgery, which took place in April 2024.
Before the surgery, Drake Solomon said he was informed by his supervisors, Game Director Craig Dzaman and Vice President of Game Entertainment Steven Johnston, as well as KSE human resources, that there would be tryouts for the role of Rocky.
Drake claims the KSE personnel said that he was unreliable due to his record of impairment and previously unsuccessful surgery.
“They just said I burned them last time and that they didn't want to bank on the second surgery working out,” Drake said. “They were like, ‘We don't know if it's gonna work out this time because the first time it didn't work out.’"
When he returned to work after a successful surgery, Drake alleges, the work environment was hostile.
“I didn't get any kind of welcoming back, not that I needed that. But, my higher-ups wouldn't even look at me or talk to me when we all worked in the same office,” Drake said. “And it wasn't until finally they talked to me when, you know, it was time to talk about having tryouts. So that was pretty tough.”
Drake said looking at the job posting when he returned was difficult. He was one of three people who tried out last summer for the position. The tryout included running around the stadium, climbing up on the boards, running along hockey boards, and dunking.
The annual salary was listed from $70,000 to $130,000. Applicants were required to hold a bachelor’s degree and three to five years of mascot experience. They had to be able to tumble, flip, dance, juggle and walk on stilts. And the had to be between
There’s also a height requirement between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-9.
Solomon said he met all the requirements at the tryouts. But he was terminated in August 2024 with no reason provided, he said.
“It was heartbreaking for me and my family,” Solomon said. “I like to always say that Rocky was kind of like a second dad, the character, the personality. We grew up with him and we all kind of fell in love with that world."
KSE allegedly offered Drake a severance agreement that included a confidentiality and non-disclosure provision and a liquidated damages provision.
The lawsuit seeks to become a class action lawsuit to include other KSE employees and seeks monetary damages on behalf of Solomon and other plaintiffs. It also asks the court to declare KSE’s severance agreement to be in violation of state law.
KSE did not answer a request for comment Wednesday.
Moving forward
The upcoming season will be only the second time that the Solomon name isn’t associated with Rocky.
Drake Solomon, who grew up in Denver and went to Heritage High School, said he will miss working for the Nuggets and still has love for them. But the ending was disappointing.
“I personally haven't seen a game or Rocky since. It's just been too painful for me,” Drake said. “So yeah, going into these seasons and especially with how the team is doing, it’s really sad because we as my family had a really strong loyalty to the Nuggets and the organization for all these years.”
Currently, he divides his time between Littleton and Dallas-Fort Worth, where his family recently moved. He instructs and manages a Total Fitness Kickboxing in Littleton. But he would love to get back into the sports entertainment world, whether as a mascot or running a mascot program for a college.
“I would love to get back into the NBA for a team, and preferably it'd be the Nuggets,” Drake said. “Either way, I still have a love for what we do.”
