University of Evansville - LinC Yearbook (Evansville, IN)

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Most of my friends here are University of Evansville basketball fans. They ' re good people. They want little more from a UE game than an enter- taining evening and a victory for the home team. They attend games loyally, spend lots of money on UE basketball and are a major reason the program has been so successful. However, there are a few UE fans who are giving all the others a bad reputa- tion. They ' d do the Aces a favor if they stayed home. They became a focus of attention Monday night in UE ' s game with Detroit at Roberts Stadium. When Richie Johnson, UE ' s talented sophomore forward, was injured in a fall, most fans watched with concern as doctors and trainers worked on his limp body. However, a few of the spectators seat- ed in the closed end of the Stadium, behaved like a bunch of rednecks at a mud wrestling match. They threw ice and peanuts at the De- troit players and coaches who attempted to approach Johnson and check his condition. And they became surly with Bob Gwaltney and Cliff McBride, two photo- graphers shooting the game for the Press. When Gwaltney and McBride got into position to take pictures of Johnson, some fans angrily shouted at the photo- graphers to move away from the scene. Tom Johnson and Jeff Rumsey, two University of Evansville cheerleaders who were on the floor during the game, were upset with the fan ' s reaction. It was ridiculous some of the things that happened, said Johnson. However, he wasn ' t surprised. He said it isn ' t unusual for cheerleaders to be confronted by rude fans at UE home games. Johnson said while UE ' s male cheer- leaders were lifting the female cheer- leaders into the air, a fan said to them, 1 hope you drop one of the girls. It ' s troubling to think such people ex- ist, and it ' s especially discouraging to see them lashing out at people during a sporting event. Spectators with even a llmilted knowl- edge of basketball surely realized no De- troit coach or player was responsible for Johnson ' s accident. Detroit guard Roy Simms was heading for an easy la3 p when Johnson leaped into the air and grabbed him from be- hind before losing his balance and crashing to the floor. It was Slmms who had every reason to be upset. Johnson ' s bllndside show was dangerous. He caused his own injury. Simms appeared ready to fight John- son untH he realized the UE forward was injured. Simms later tried to console Johnson as he was carried off on a stretcher. Why fans got angery with the photo- graphers is a puzzle. They don ' t get their kicks shooting pictures of people in pain. It ' s there Job to get pictures of a news event. Gwaltney and McBride, in their efforts to get the best pictures possible, didn ' t interfere with the doctors attending 6

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s, ' chool days, school days, dear old golden rule days ... Believe it or not, your parents probably sang that song. To- day they would get lost before one verse of my blood runs cold, my angel is a center fold ... Although it seems like you never had anything in common, being a fresh- man in the sto ne age really wasn ' t much different than today. When your parents were in your shoes as freshman, they probably wore pods. You know, those are the little hats sorority girls wear now. Then, no matter who you were, the pod set you apart from upper- classmen. Actually it made you easier prey for practical jokes, dirty jobs or anything else the Seniors could think of. Fashion for the day included Bermuda Fever, bright colored tall socks, and bare knees. Far cries from plastic pants, metallic knee socks and bare everything? Not really. ' ' it ' s great to look down on all the freshman Students hung out at the Union Build- ing. Although this is done today, most students don ' t know where the Union is until Senior picture time. The feeling is about the same on every college campus. As summed up by UofE student Harry Sikma, it ' s great to look down on all the freshman and know exact- ly what they ' re going through ... The big consolation is that you only have to be a freshman once (if you ' re lucky!). One year of misery in return for three of dominance. Memories OF The Past. 5

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Johnson, or hinder the proceedings in any way. Still, Gwaltney said fans yelled at him, Get that camera out of here, or Get that camera down, or Who is that cam- eraman for, Detroit? Later that night, Gwaltney stopped at a 24-hour restaurant. Kenny Perry, UE ' s sophomore center and a close friend of Richie Johnson ' s, also was there. Perry asked Gwaltney to join him. Perry told me it was all right to have taken the pictures, Gwaltney said. He told me everyone else was nuts. He said the players realize I was just doing my job. That made me feel a little better. UE fans also received criticism for leaving the game long before its conclu- sion. A mass exodus began when UE trailed by 10 pomts with about four minutes to play. By the time UE closed to within two points with four seconds left, about half of the original crowd of 10,696 had de- parted. Cheerleaders Johnson and Rumsey were particularly upset. When I looked up into the stands and saw them half-empty, 1 said to myself, ' 1 don ' t believe this, ' said Rumsey. It ' s just unreal. People here want their team to be ranked m the top SO, but they don ' t want to support the team. Said Tom Johnson . . . They support the team when it wms. But when it loses, they just take off The cheerleaders said it ' s not uncom- mon for people — especially those m the first rows — to tell them to stop cheermg. They tell us to sit down and get out of the way, said Johnson. Johnson and Rumsey said UE has too many middle-aged and elderly fans who don ' t want to participate in the cheers. It seems like they ' d have more fun staying home and watchmg the game on TV, said Rumsey, because they don ' t want to participate. He thinks UE ' s cheerleaders do a good job of trying to inspire the crowd. We ' re trying a lot of different things. But it ' s discouraging when we try new things and no one seems to care. I think most Aces fans do care. Some of them just show it in a funny way. 7