pausing an animation, then running a different animation, and then resuming old animation

I am writing a simple ball throwing script. Most of the actions are automated, but I'm using Vive controllers for a little agency thrown in there. There are three people, and I control one. When I get the ball, I want all of the characters to enter an idling animation cycle essentially. Once an input of a trigger clicked is received, I want to resume the old animation cycle. Is there a way to do this? Or a better way to do this?