Rattlerman left lasting impression on championship franchise

When the Rattlers got rockin' and rollin' in the early 1990s, one fan among the sell-out crowds at then America West Arena, aka the Snake Pit, stood out.

He was Rattlerman, who had a sidekick – Rattlerman Jr. – built into one the more extravagant costumes any pro team at any level had ever seen.

Richard Rodriguez, a former Air Force veteran who helped build aircraft parts as a sheet metal worker in Glendale, was the man in the costume.

Sadly, Rodriguez died on May 20 from a long battle from kidney disease. He was 60.

A Pittsburgh Steelers fan since childhood, Rodriguez was buried in Steeler gear. That was his NFL team.

In the spring and summer, he was all Rattlers.

He got hooked on the Rattlers after going to an Arena football game using a co-worker's tickets in 1992, the first year of the team's existence.

"I made a cape for him for his Steelers," said Geri Rodriguez, Richard's wife. "When we went to a Steelers game, he didn't dress up. His main team was the Steelers. That was his team as a little boy."

He only dressed up for the Rattlers.

"He fell in love with the Rattlers just from that one game," Geri said. "He had football year-round."

In 1994, the Rattlers' first Arena Football League championship season, Rattlerman was born, as Rodriguez moved from the upper deck to the front row.

With his always present Fu Manchu mustache, Rodriguez got decked out in an outfit that would impress the costume designers for the Mad Max movies with a skeleton costume, black cape, heavy dark eye shadow, spiked helmet and collar.

It started at a Halloween costume store.

"He found a skeleton that looks just like skin and bones," Geri said. "We picked up a vampire cape, which I ended up making into his Rattler cape. We got extra material and got the back all set up for Rattlerman."

Soon after came Rattlerman Jr., a puppet sewn inside the cape that had a huge rubbery skull with snake eyes and holding his own rod.

"Everyone loved Rattlerman Jr., who was all skin and bones," Geri said. "He would shake his Rattlerman Jr., move his cape."

Rodriguez sometimes took his act on the road.

"When we had traveled to San Jose for a game, I think around 2004, the team was getting off the bus at the hotel and guys like Vince Amey and Mark Tucker had never seen him before out of the Rattlerman costume, and they asked, 'Who the heck are you?' '' said Bill Skaug, a long-time Rattlers season-ticket holder, who was good friends with Rodriguez. "He told them he was Rattler Man and they all said they were afraid of him."

Intimidating in appearance, Rattlerman had a huge heart and posed for pictures and signed autographs for little kids after games. He was even featured in a 2004 ESPN the magazine piece.

He was more "super hero" than villain, Skaug said.

"All of the kids loved him and he did thousands of pictures with children and signed stuff for them," Skaug said.

The Rattlers are expected to pay tribute to Rattlerman on June 6 when the three-time defending ArenaBowl champions return home to play the Tampa Bay Storm.

"Kids and adults, they all loved having their picture taken with him," Geri said. "They all loved him."