Gliding gracefully across campus, head two feet above the crowd, Brian Viggiano attracts a lot of attention. People can’t help but notice his style, his poise, his skill – and his unicycle.

Viggiano, a senior history major, is Syracuse University’s newest campus celebrity. Though he’s not yet on the level of Bird Girl or Dennis Jacobs, more and more students are starting to recognize the Unicycle Man.

‘I used to live down by Sadler, and I used to see him all the time down there,’ said Kara DeJesus, a sophomore advertising major. ‘He’s pretty talented. It takes a lot of work to do that.’

What Viggiano does is ride his unicycle all over campus, to and from class and his house on the corner of Euclid Avenue and Westcott Street.

‘I figure it’s about twice as fast as walking,’ Viggiano said. ‘Currently I’m riding it every day because my bike has a flat tire, and I lost my pump.’

Viggiano might fix the bike, but the unicycle has the distinct advantage of being ‘a lot more fun,’ he said, which is why he uses it in the first place.

The intrepid cyclist first took up the craft last April during a meeting of the SU Juggling Club, he said. Jugglers often take their skill to the next level by balancing on a unicycle, and Viggiano was able to learn on one of the club’s cycles. He now owns his own and even taught fellow Juggling Club member Katie Osterdahl how to ride.

John Haffner of the Class of 2005 and former Juggling Club president, taught Viggiano how to ride the unique contraption. Haffner did not expect his pupil to use the skill on a daily basis, though.

‘I’m pretty surprised he rides his unicycle to class,’ Haffner said.

But Viggiano’s mother, Joyce, isn’t.

‘(Brian) always enjoyed doing things that are different and kind of fun,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t mind people looking at him. I don’t think he’s trying to get attention, but I don’t think it bothers him. He’s got a lot of self-confidence.’

Viggiano said he isn’t one to demand the spotlight, but most of the reactions he gets are kind. Only twice have people attempted to knock him over while riding, but neither was successful. In fact, unicycling doesn’t strike fear into the brave Viggiano, who rides without a helmet.

‘You’re in a standing position while you’re riding it, so every time you fall, your feet are already below you,’ he said.

Viggiano is often asked if he has any unicycle-based pickup lines. The answer is ‘no.’ Viggiano doesn’t need any. He’s been dating the same girl, Elizabeth Badame, for about nine years.

Badame, a 2005 graduate of Cornell, took the addition of Viggiano’s newest talent in stride due to his long list of other interesting hobbies, she said. The man once famous (or infamous) for wearing Hawaiian shirts every day also participates in underwater hockey, swimming, snowboarding, skiing and of course, juggling.

Badame also wasn’t surprised that her boyfriend has taken on a bit of notoriety, because with someone special like a unicyclist, ‘everybody wants to see it,’ she said.

‘It’s kind of a novelty,’ she added, but ‘that’s just pretty much Brian.’

Viggiano isn’t sure how far he’ll take his hobby or how famous it might make him. For now he shields his shining talent behind a curtain of humility.

‘I’m not that great at it,’ he said. ‘I can get from place to place, but I’m by no means a unicycling expert. I still need to learn how to stop.’

Published on March 7, 2006 at 12:00 pm