UNIVERSITY PARK – Ben Hughes, a hospital vice president in northwest Pennsylvania and a 1985 Penn State graduate from the College of Health and Human Development, also has an important second job.
He wrangles the media and acts as bodyguard for one of the Commonwealth’s most famous residents. In a few days Hughes will don attire worthy of the red carpet, and at a predetermined time, his celebrity charge is expected to make a highly anticipated decision that will be recorded live by a large international corps of reporters.
No, George Clooney hasn’t moved to Pennsylvania.
Hughes is the handler for Punxsutawney Phil.
A member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle and clearly good at his public relations volunteer job as Phil’s spokesperson, Hughes has a sharp sense of humor and a stockpile of groundhog and Punxsutawney information.
For example, he explained that groundhogs, who are also called whistle pigs because they make a wide variety of noises, hibernate because of the lack of available daylight, not the onset of cold winter temperatures. Male groundhogs hibernate for 110 days while females hibernate for 119 days, according to Hughes, and contrary to popular belief, hibernation is not actually a constant state of sleeping but feels more like having the flu. Phil wakes up for a few minutes each day, takes a drink of water and is back to his burrow for sleep. His heart rate will drop from 120 beats a minute in the summer months to 20 during the long Pennsylvania winter.
“And Punxsutawney lies at the intersection of the Pennsylvania and the B&O Railroads, names familiar to anyone who has played a game of Monopoly. It was one of five towns under consideration for the capital of Pennsylvania,” he added.
Asked to describe the festive atmosphere in his town every Feb. 2, Hughes explained, “It’s a two-day festival, in a community of 6,000 residents and 87 hotel rooms, that brings 40,000 people the middle of the woods. Picture the Arts Festival, except picture it in January and starting in the middle of the night.”
Five years ago Hughes, vice president for professional and corporate services at Punxsutawney Area Hospital, was invited to join the Inner Circle, which is composed of 15 active members and seven retired members from the Punxsutawney community. Two years ago he began his duty as handler for their extremely recognizable mascot, who Hughes prefers to call a “national treasure,” for what the Inner Circle likes to call “America’s ‘Second’ Favorite Holiday.”
“The Inner Circle is charged with the incredibly important position of preserving a part of American and Pennsylvania folklore,” said Hughes. “Our mission is to promote and perpetuate the legend of 122-year-old Punxsutawney Phil.”
Members of the Inner Circle must live in the Punxsutawney school district, and new members must be nominated by existing members … and be prepared to do a lot of work every year. Because of his role as Phil’s caretaker, Hughes assists with events management and media management.
“Our Web site [www.groundhog.org] gets 3 million hits in a two-day period, and we conduct more than 600 interviews in a 24-hour period. We’re on every news station in the country,” said Hughes. Punxsutawney Phil is the most-photographed Pennsylvanian, he added, and his special day is on 85 percent of all calendars.
Visitors come to Gobbler’s Knob not just to see if the groundhog sees his shadow. Couples are granted up to 15 weddings per year inside Phil’s chapel.
“Most either met, were engaged or have birthdays on Feb. 2,” said Hughes.
Often, Phil comes to the people, albeit not without the typical celebrity entourage (namely Hughes). They travel to schools, to help children explore the subject of weather, and attend special events such as parades and the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Phil has been on David Letterman’s stage and met Oprah during her “Famous Small Towns” show.
This year, Phil will emerge early from his hibernation to visit Penn State’s University Park campus from noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 29, as a guest of the meteorology department and the Campus Weather Service, 6th floor Walker Building. Traveling with him will be Hughes and Mike Johnston, another member of the Inner Circle.
And Hughes, a native of Clearfield, will revisit his alma mater, where he spent three years studying health planning, after completing his first year at the Dubois campus. He was a member of the house staff at Eisenhower Auditorium and was among the first employees at McLanahan’s Penn State Room.
Although he said he has been bitten by an unhappy Phil, being his handler is certainly not Hughes’ most unpleasant job on his resume.
“My most unique job while attending Penn State was wearing an advertising sandwich board for a local poster shop. I simply had to walk to class and got paid by the hour,” he said.
As for their upcoming visit to Penn State, one might wonder if Hughes’ groundhog traveling companion might be concerned about being overshadowed by one of college sports’ most popular mascots.
Hughes quipped, “Punxsutawney Phil and the Inner Circle are fine having the Nittany Lion be the second-most famous animal in Pennsylvania!”