Before there was Al the Octopus, there was The Red Winger.

In this edition of "Detroit Red Wings revisited," a series designed to distract while the hockey world is shut down because of COVID-19, we look back at an old mascot.

Shortly after purchasing the franchise in 1982, Mike Ilitch green-lighted a mascot as part of his plan to get fans interested in the team again. The Red Winger debuted on the night of the season opener, Oct. 6, 1982.

That night also marked the start of a promotion that showed just how badly the Wings needed to bring fans to Joe Louis Arena: Nancy Gerbasi won a drawing of ticket stubs between the second and third periods and the prize was a bright red 1982 Pontiac Firebird.

A few fans booed at the end of the night after the Wings lost to the St. Louis Blues, 2-1, but Ilitch’s acquisition of the team after 50 years of Norris family ownership rallied fans.

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The Red Winger was red and white and supposed to look like a bird (it resembled the San Diego chicken). Jim Wilczak was the man beneath the feathers, happily signing autographs and throwing pucks to children. Wilczak was the skating bulldog at Ferris State University.

“I don’t make any salary yet,” he said on opening night. “We’ll see how I do in the first game and talk contract after that.”

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The Red Winger slipped and fell to the ice during his first appearance. In January 1985, someone stole the costume from its storage space in a dressing room off the east end of the Joe just before a game against the Winnipeg Jets (the Wings lost, 8-5).

The Red Winger lasted through the 1986-87 season. As seating capacity at the Joe expanded, it made it harder for Wilczak to get around, and by then, the Wings had started winning, too. Wilczak kept the jersey, but the costume was thrown out (it was hot in there!).

The Wings were without a mascot until the 1995 playoffs, when a large purple octopus dressed in a red Wings sweater debuted (too impractical to be worn by a person, the octopus was raised to the rafters as the Wings skated onto the ice). It was named Al after Al Sobotka, the long-time buildings operations manager and Zamboni driver who would gain fame as an octopus twirler during the late 1990s.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.