University of Arkansas Fayetteville - Razorback Yearbook (Fayetteville, AR)

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The shower stall on the second floor of Gregson Hall looks like something out of Psycho , as senior Josh Daugherty washes off. Spots of red are splattered all over the walls, the floor, the drain. A few moments later, he emerges and towels off before heading to the mirror. He turns around, looking over his shoulder to scan his back for any more spots of red or white paint. It is then that he sees the large number one and the thick letters spelling Fish that have been burned into his epidermis. It is the mark of a diehard fan. It ' s unavoidable, senior Jason Drew Hardy said. It ' s like it is something that you accept. When you sign that mental piece of paper that says ' I want to be a Razorhog ' in the fine print it says you agree to sunburns. Formed by a group of friends in 2004, the Ra- zorhogs became a front-row tradition in the student section of Razorback Stadium. But the idea originat¬ ed much higher up, in the nosebleed section, where Daniel Moose sat at the Texas game during his fresh¬ man year. If you are up that high in the student section, pret¬ ty much the only way you can make it through the whole game is drunk, he said. I wasn ' t, this guy a few rows back was. So throughout the game, he ' s just yelling pretty much the whole time. He ' s like, ' Go Ra- zorhogs! ' and then he just kept saying that. The phrase stuck and when the founding members decided they wanted something more original than Go Hogs or Razorbacks, the moniker stuck. They painted up for the next game and a tradition was born. After that first time, I think we were all hooked, Jason Griffin said. Well we all had the outlines on our backs from the paint, Moose said. So...we really had no choice in the matter, Clark Smith said. Four years later, the tradition was still firmly en¬ trenched and the veteran members had become more like a family than just friends. You know, we are a fraternity, Moose said, but instead of two or three letters, we ' ve got nine. Or 10, 11 or 12, depending on the game. While the core members stayed the same, fluctuations over the years led to some creative solutions for getting more people involved, from Razorhogs heart ESPN to using the upside down exclamation marks used in Spanish. Seniority determined the pecking order for letters, players ' names and even paint color. I was stuck with white the first two years, Jordan Weiler said. And it always, always flaked off. It was itchy. And red, you know, was pretty solid. And so for two years, I had to pay my dues and be white and then I moved on up to red. It was the happiest mo¬ ment of my life. Commitment, whether it was to their color, letter or to the group, was a must for being a Razorhog. For them, the game started long before Saturday, as they had to stake out the stadium in order to secure their spots at the front of the line and the front of the student section. Depending on the game, they some¬ times camped out the night before or even several days before, taking shifts at the Razorhog tent. If it ' s a big game, somebody will be on the lookout, like Clark or Lammers or somebody, Daugherty said. They ' ll just be driving past or walking past to see if there is a tent out there, and if there is, immediately Clark hits the e-brake, spins around, pops the trunk and the tent pops out... It ' s the Razorbacks version of the bat signal, Smith said. But the long hours camping out and baking while standing in line were almost as fun as the game for the guys, who used the time to catch up with each other, especially in later years when they moved off campus and no longer saw each other as much. I think one of the best things about it was just get¬ ting there early and hanging out with the other people that are diehard Razorback fans, Hardy said. You get out there, and you toss a football around or just commiserate sweating together, trying to make shade by stacking trash cans. Most students were anything from amused to im¬ pressed by the guys ' dedication and weekly antics. Students and fans alike could appreciate the enter¬ tainment they provided and their constant support for Arkansas football. I think it ' s important to note that we ' ve been through a lot of quarterbacks, Hardy said. We were there no matter who the coach was, no matter who the players were on the field. We were there for the Razorbacks. After four years of sweating, dancing and cheering together, the members of the Razorhogs shared a bond as thick as the acrylic paint they slathered on every Saturday. As their time at the UA drew to a close, they found it hard to picture a Hog game without the flak¬ ing paint and the awkward tan lines. I just can ' t imagine what it ' s going to be like be¬ ing there before a game and not having all that go¬ ing on, Smith said. You ' re getting painted and you ' re watching other guys getting painted and you ' re trying to go get your Coke and Tusk is coming in, the band is playing, there ' s always so much going on. And I ' m going to show up next year and just be in my seat, two hours before game time, going, ' What the hell? I ' m bored. ' RAZORHOGS ||

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RAZORHOG AND PROVED THEY ONLY BLEED RAZORBACK RED. BY MEGAN GARNER

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C Jason Griffin, Jason Drew Hardy and Matt Lammers cel¬ ebrate and sing at the South Carolina game in Razorback Stadium. PHOTO: MEGAN GARNER Josh Daugherty shows off his finished paint job. Daugherty was the tallest Razorhog but represented one of the short¬ est Arkansas players. PHOTO: MEGAN GARNER Sean Fraser, Daniel Moose and Josh Daugherty lead the student section in a Hog call. PHOTO: DARREN MCNEILL Lindsay Irion paints Jason Griffin ' s back before the matchup against the Game¬ cocks. The Razorhogs usually painted up about an hour and a half before kickoff. PHOTO: MEGAN GARNER Fraser reacts to the splat of cold paint on his skin. The paint only got colder at games that were at night or in Octo¬ ber and November. PHOTO: MEGAN GARNER Celebrating their last game to¬ gether, the Razorhogs partici¬ pate in a group Hog call. The members had been painting up since their freshman year. PHOTO: DARREN MCNEILL Edison Froelich and his fellow Razorhogs get pumped up be¬ fore kickoff. The guys camped out for days at a time to get their front row seats. PHOTO: TRISTAN EVANS I Fraser and Matt Lam- celebrate a successful Razorback play with Sue E. eai mers PHOTO: DARREN MCNEILL R—Sean Fraser A—Matt Lammers Z—Daniel Moose O—Josh Daugherty R—Jordan Weiler H—Jason Griffin O—Jason Drew Hardy G—Ryan Boncheff S—Clark Smith !—Edison Froelich !—Chuck Ballard !—Jed Hefner !—Daniel Settle The Razorhogs set up their campsite outside the entrance to the student section. Hold¬ ing down their home base in shifts, the guys passed the night playing frisbee, eating pizza or playing Xbox. The University allowed them to use power from the stadium and they sometimes even received free food from such admirers as the Dean of Students, the athletic department and Frank Broyles. After a night of sleeping o and blankets, the Razo pack up the tent and stal their place in line. The down in the morning w ways fun, cause the p are starting to comp Daugherty said. Eager fans crowded outside tf trance hoping for a good requiring the guys to d their territory. As soon c tent came down, Moose we just got rushed. T2 STUDENT LIFE