HUACHUCA CITY — There was a gorilla in their midst.

And it wasn’t just any gorilla — it was the Phoenix Suns basketball team’s very own gorilla, who travels in a custom white Hummer bearing the license plate THEGRLA.

Therefore, it was not surprising that the 350-plus students at Huachuca City Elementary School were excited, noisy and receptive to the “Be Tobacco Free” message of the all-school assembly Tuesday morning.

The Gorilla’s own NBA-laced opinion is that using tobacco is a “personal foul.”

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Squirming with anticipation on the gymnasium’s brand-new, shiny tile floor, the kids obliged Mascot Coordinator Paul Smith’s tease that The Gorilla wouldn’t come out on stage until they shouted ever louder.

The Gorilla did not disappoint, leaping out with a “spear gun” that shot rounds of purple and orange streamers across the surprised and delighted crowd.

“I’ve never seen this presentation before,” said Renee Bizzak, educator with the Cochise County Health Department, as The Gorilla leaped and lurched through a center “aisle” of screaming children. “It beats giving them a lecture, doesn’t it?”

Indeed it does, and it’s not hard to understand how the primate pranks, which earned The Gorilla induction into the Mascot Hall of Fame, positively promote tobacco prevention.

“We’re excited to have The Gorilla back in Cochise County,” said Suzanne Hagle, coordinator of the county’s Beneficial Use of Tobacco Taxes, known as Project B.U.T.T.

“He visited schools in Sierra Vista and Bisbee two years ago,” she added.

The assembly is an entertaining blend of video, antics, acrobatics, storytelling, prizes and information. The Gorilla dances, takes pratfalls, uses Smith — and a few kids, too — as foils for silliness, and is as nimble and quick as any chimpanzee cousin could hope to be.

Smith reads a story about The Gorilla’s healthy lifestyle, which the mascot acts out, from falling out of bed after a good night’s sleep, to jogging, doing jumping jacks, and showing his prowess with a hockey stick and tennis racquet, shooting rubber balls into the audience.

The kids love it.

They see a video that tells them that using tobacco is not only a personal foul, but smells foul and makes you feel foul.

Another video, titled “Which Smells Worse?”, shows a little girl correctly deciding between a week-old fish and a smoker’s breath that the smoker smells worse.

Produced in conjunction with the Phoenix Fire Department, a third video shows firefighters answering kids’ frequently-asked-questions about tobacco use, while performing their real-life duties.

The high-energy program also includes facts about tobacco, nicotine, health dangers, second-hand smoke, fire dangers, and resisting peer pressure.

Sue Briody of the Arizona Department of Health Services in Phoenix was on hand to give prizes of Phoenix Suns’ merchandise to students who could answer trivia questions about what they had learned. The ADHS is responsible for developing the state’s Tobacco Education and Prevention Program.

Every youngster received an ADHS/Gorilla wristband on the way out.

“We visit about 40 schools a year,” said Smith after the assembly. “Most are in Maricopa (County), but each year we go out to four other counties around the state.”

The Suns and The Gorilla partnered with T.E.P.P. about four years ago, and all the videos and tobacco prevention information can be found at www.personalfoul.org.

An enormous hit with the kids who promised loudly they would “Be Tobacco Free,” The Gorilla and Smith make about 250 personal appearances a year — in addition to The Suns’ games — at hospitals, charity events and grand openings.

As Smith posed for pictures by the waiting Hummer, sixth-graders Izzy Cantua and Kolten Driver hoped for The Gorilla’s autograph, unable to fully express their emotions.

“It was good,” they said solemnly, sharing their awe with nodding heads.

The mascot and his coordinator would be off to a gig in Benson at another school for a repeat “Be Tobacco Free” performance scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

It was unclear who would drive the Hummer.

HERALD/REVIEW reporter Cindy Skalsky can be reached at 515-4611 or by e-mail at cindy.skalsky@svherald.com.