Posted on 12/10/2006 4:14:13 PM PST by doug from upland
Published: Friday, October 13, 2000 Still 'Krazy' after all these cheers Win or lose on game day, there's no fan like 'Krazy' George Henderson
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cary Aspinwall Features Editor
George Henderson really is “krazy.” Crazy for sports. Crazy about the 25 years he has earned his living as a professional cheerleader for hire. Crazy about doing anything he can to get noticed at sporting events.
But Oklahoma State University has been “krazy” for George ever since he first cheered here in 1997.
He is, after all, the inventor of “the wave,” that sports-fan favorite made popular in the 1980s.
And he can prove it.
“Krazy” George takes credit for inventing the “wave” as we know it on the night of Oct. 15, 1981 — during a nationally televised playoff game between the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees baseball teams at the Oakland Coliseum.
He said he had the idea for it a long time before that game — but never the perfect opportunity to show it off.
“The wave has to be done when the place is really full. That (Oakland vs. Yankees) game was pretty much a sell-out,” he said.
But his claim to sports fame is not without dispute, however.
The University of Washington and its Husky fans claims to be the “true” inventors of the wave.
Athletic Department Media Relations representatives for UW declined to comment for this story, but they sent The Daily O’Collegian a press release regarding the controversy, which stated:
“Despite claims by others, the Wave can trace its origin back to Husky Stadium. It was Oct. 31, 1981 when former cheerleader Rob Weller (yes, the same Rob Weller who once co-hosted Entertainment Tonight) was back on the sidelines and instructed the Washington crowd to start in one section and make a human wave that rolled around Husky Stadium. The original Wave saw Husky fans remain standing until a full circle was completed in the stadium ... The Wave is believed to have started in the third quarter as the Huskies reeled off 28 points en route to a 42-31 win over the John Elway-led Stanford team.”
Their supposed date of invention is two weeks after Henderson’s performance at the Oakland Coliseum — but UW fans claim that George’s wasn’t a “true” wave.
“They still try to convince people they invented it,” Henderson said. “Sorry, guys — I have it on film.”
Henderson said the idea for the wave was born when he cheered for San Jose State and developed several sectional cheers where he would have sections stand and cheer as he pointed to them.
The A’s were behind when he decided to try and get it going in Oakland that night.
It took three or four tries, but that last attempt was legendary.
Joe Garagiola, former NBC sports commentator who called the game that day in Oakland, recalled the experience in a Nov. 15, 1984, article in The Dallas Morning News :
“I remember during the game that all of a sudden the fans started getting up then sitting down,” Garagiola said... “As I remember, it looked the same or better than what they’re doing now.
“Our producer, Don Ohlmeyer, was trying to get the cameraman to catch the wave, but he was always one sections behind. He (Ohlmeyer) kept pounding on him saying, ‘Get it. Get that thing.’
“I had never seen anything like it before. It was super.”
Alan Powell doesn’t need anyone to prove to him who invented the wave — he saw it.
The San Francisco Bay Area resident and longtime Oakland A’s fan was at the legendary playoff game on the night of Oct. 15, 1981.
He was working for Del Monte at the time, and the company had reserved seats for its employees in section 121 of the Oakland Coliseum, behind the third base dugout, Powell said in a phone interview Wednesday.
“When it actually happened, it was very sporadic,” Powell said. “We thought (Krazy George) was nuts — a lot of fun, but nuts. In those days, we all wondered, ‘What kind of drugs is he on?’”
“But when we realized what it was, it was one of those magical, magical moments. I remember the smiles on all of our faces. It was just wonderful.”
Powell said that Krazy George’s wave that evening was “definitely” the original.
“That was the first wave. We didn’t even know what to call it,” he said. “But if you were there, you knew you had never seen this before in your life. I think if someone had done it before, we would have heard of it.”
Powell couldn’t recall who won the game that evening.
“What I remembered about the game, basically, was the wave,” he said.
The dispute between George and the UW Husky fans got somewhat heated this summer in an online message board at www.gameops.com, a resource Web site for the sports entertainment industry.
Jon Cudo, editor of gameops.com, said it started because Krazy George’s Web site, www.getkrazy.com, which is maintained by gameops.com, posted his claim that he invented the wave. Some Husky fans apparently stumbled across George’s Web site and were incensed by this statement, and responded by calling George a “liar” and an “old kook” in online chat rooms.
“They were very upset about it, and demanded that it be changed,” Cudo said in a phone interview Wednesday from his Portland, Ore., office. “I was intrigued that people were so passionate about it, because it was silly, I thought.”
Cudo worked with a local reporter to examine the facts that each side had presented to back up their claim of invention.
“Based on everything we’ve seen, I would think Krazy George was the first to do the wave. Both stories are credible, but it just happens that George’s date is before theirs.”
George said he actually began doing early versions of the wave at Colorado Rockies ice hockey games long before 1981 — but that was just where it got noticed.
He started cheering at San Jose State in 1967, where he was a member of its championship judo team.
Post graduation, he cheered for free at local sporting events — until he realized he could make more money cheering than teaching wood and metal shop at a local high school.
“I wasn’t really cut out to be a shop teacher,” he said.
The schedule of a pro cheerleader fit him better, he said.
“I work six hours a week, doing about two games a week,” he said.
“Because I move through the stands, people know me — I always tell them how it’s tough to be a professional male model.”
At Lewis Field, he gets a little help from the Spiritron projecting his larger-than-life personality to its appropriate size.
“And being as good-looking as I am, I should be on the Jumbotron,” he said.
His cheers aim to make sports crowds as loud and rowdy as possible, he said.
“I became famous for doing back and forth cheers. Others did it before me, but I took it to the pros.”
The secret to orchestrating such large crowd cheers is observing the crowd, he said.
“During the game, usually, there’s always moments of excitement,” he said. “I think like a fan. I’m successful because I can sense when the fans want to cheer. They don’t want to cheer for every single play.
“And every cheer I do has to be loud. I don’t do a failure cheer.”
“WE ARE —O-STATE!”
Sept. 23 —OSU vs. Southern Mississippi at Lewis Field.
It’s fairly cold and rainy, and the way our Cowboys are playing, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to win.
But Krazy George somehow manages to get the dwindling crowd riled up enough to do one of his infamous sectional cheers accompanied by his drum.
The south side is in charge of yelling “WE ARE...” at George’s command.
The north side replies “O-State.”
It is deafening. I’m fairly sure the few people who have set out to brave Wal-Mart during this time can hear it all the way over there.
For about a second or two, I forget that we’re losing and consider staying until the end — or at least until I lose my voice.
“WE ARE —O-STATE!”
“Not everybody was born to be a loud fan,” said Jon Terry, Krazy George’s agent and president of Tulsa-based SRO Events. “When George does that, he gets just about everybody involved.
“What he does is so tremendously hard — standing up in front of crowds and yelling at them,” he said.
“Whether the team wins or loses, (the fans) are going to have a good time.
Terry has a copy of the footage from Major League Baseball and he remembered seeing it on television the night it happened — long before he’d met Henderson.
“I thought he was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “It’s sort of like watching a horse being born and taking its first steps.”
Terry said he represents about 15 different acts, but George is his favorite. “He’s a joy — still a kid,” Terry said. “Still an absolute kid.
“They broke the mold when they made George.”
Sean Heusel, coordinator of athletic promotions for the OSU Athletic Department, said the university decided to hire George for the entire fall 2000 football season and three additional events (including Orange Peel) because of his popularity with Cowboy fans.
“We’ve seen a very positive response to him at the games, so we decided to capitalize on that for a whole season,” Heusel said. “He’s a definite riot.”
George has more stories than a school library.
For love of the game, he has hang-glided into a goal post, pounded on his drum to drive off an angry lion who attacked his trainer while opening a game with him, and made various stadium entrances in Ferraris, tanks and limos.
“When you’re born this good-looking, why should you have to work?” he said.
George has cheered for everyone from the Oakland A’s and the Kansas City Chiefs to various minor league baseball and soccer teams — but the Cowboys are one of his favorite college teams to cheer for, he said.
“OSU is amazing. This is my fourth year, and it’s just been great,” he said. “I have more fun than anybody at a game.
How 'bout dem Cowboys!!!? And the 2nd coming of romo?
Amazing job by New Orleans. In the last several games, it looks like they are really making use of Bush's talent in the right way. He finally appears to be at home and really confident.
he can't run up the middle except on delays and draws but he's not to shabby on the outside and catching the ball.
Please end the world now.
Interesting story, but I've always hated the Wave.
And have you seen a pic of this "World's Best Looking Cheerleader"? I guess that is tongue in cheek...'cause good looking he ain't.
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