Sept. 8, 2001
Bowling Green, Ky. - No dark spots in the pregame celebration of Western Kentucky University's football home opener against Kentucky State. The beautiful weather made it easier for families and students to enjoy the two-day event of pep-rallies, bands and tailgating.
Athletic Director Wood Selig estimated that about 1,000 WKU supporters showed up for the Paint the Town Red pep-rally in Fountain Square Park Friday (Sept. 7). Selig said he has high hopes for Paint the Town Red and the businesses of Bowling Green. He said he would like to see them offer sales leading up to the event to help inspire community support.
"It's the right way to start out the season," Selig said. "We're going to do this every year before our first home game because we want to establish this as a new football tradition with the community."
The men's basketball and women's soccer and softball teams each took the stage to lead the crowd in song. Then, football coach Jack Harbaugh got the crowd to sing, firing them up to come out and support his Hilltoppers in the home opener versus Kentucky State. Children played with Broadway the Clown and got their faces painted and students listened to Floord, a local band sponsored by Kelly Green's.
"It was a great success," coordinator of marketing and promotions Angie McDonald said. "I'm looking forward to an even better turnout next year."
Then, the big success on game day -- other than the Hilltoppers' resounding 48-0 victory over Kentucky State, of course -- was the ability of WKU officials and planners to please both students and families with the relocation of tailgating areas.
Randy Donaldson, a 1980 WKU broadcasting graduate, held his his five-year old son's hand and, with hundreds of other fans, watched the Big Red Marching Band perform in front of Downing University Center. He brought his son Joseph from their home in Nashville to see their first football game together and the two had just come from Toppertown, Western's tailgating area for youngsters on DUC's upper South Lawn. Toppertown was sponsored by WKYU-TV, who gave out coloring books and had drawings for prizes for the kids.
As Joseph stood by his father, the youngster waved a red towel in his right hand and talked about his favorite part of the day, meeting Big Red.
After Joseph was finished, Donaldson smiled and said he hasn't been back on campus in a very long time.
And, although they hadn't planned on staying for the whole game, he said the day was already a success and that he was impressed with the way Western has changed.
"It was absolutely worth the drive," Donaldson said. "Right time of day, right atmosphere, beautiful weather. It wasn't like this when I was here. I'll definitely come back this season."
Ole Miss graduates Nancy and Rodney Crouch brought their two daughters, Madison, 4, and Riley, 1, and a family friend's daughter, Paige Fields, 4, to the airbrush tatoo station in Toppertown, just a few yards from where they had been tailgating. Paige, dressed in a WKU children's cheerleader uniform, got a dolphin on her leg and a heart on her arm. Madison left with a poodle on her leg and flower on her arm.
All three girls were dressed in red and white and were having a blast, running around Toppertown. First it was the tatoo station, and then they were off to the giant inflatable slide.
The Crouch's have lived in Bowling Green for two years and said they were impressed their first Western game.
"We go to a lot of Ole Miss games and there's a lot of tailgating but nothing for the kids," Nancy said. "This is just great. They're having a blast."
Half an hour before kick-off, on the opposite side of DUC's south lawn (in front of the Preston Center), the "Muckrakers" were relaxing after their afternoon concert. Lead singer Rob Carpenter and lead guitarist John Ruby were both Western students at one time. Carpenter, from Murray, left Western a few hours short of graduating to pursue his career in the band. Ruby graduated with a degree in history. They said they had a lot of people come over from the tailgating areas but noticed the new division of areas for students and families.
"It looks like it's really happin' over at the practice field," Ruby said. "Even though everyone's spread out, it still looked like we had a good crowd."
"It was great coming back," Carpenter said. "People up front were singing and dancing. It was great."
Sitting on a cooler in the back of a black pickup, Sigma Phi Epsilon member Sam Shepard leaned forward and pointed at the "R" of Hilltoppers painted on the stands in L.T. Smith Stadium. That's where he and his fraternity brothers decided to sit and watch the game after tailgating.
Shepard, a junior horse science and business management double-major from Lexington, said that the new tailgating area on the practice field was more comfortable than the cramped DUC south lawn.
"It's awesome because everyone has their space," Shepard said. "And the campus police are doing a good job with their enforcement of the alcohol policy. They understand we're here to have fun and this year everyone's being responsible."
Minutes before game time, vice president of student affairs and services Gene Tice said that officials haven't had the same problems with students and tailgating as they did last year.
"What we really want to do is make tailgating strictly a pregame thing," Tice said. "When the game starts we want everyone to go support our Hilltoppers. We're going to work with the different groups to get them in as soon as the game starts. If there's alcohol here, it's hard to see."
Tice said officials handed out tickets to get the tailgaters in the stands instead of hanging out like last year.
And it may have worked.
Attendance was 11,000, up more than 3,000 fans from last year's opening game total of 7,800.
"It was the perfect game-day atmosphere," Selig said. "We're getting off to a great start this year. There were cars on the lawns of academic buildings, dorms and fields. Tailgating and good times were everywhere."
The winner of Arby's halftime promotion was John Allen, who kicked a ball through the uprights for a year's supply of roast beef sandwiches. Allen will receive a coupon for one roast beef sandwich every day for a year.
"I didn't think I could hit one," Allen said. "Arby's is my favorite place to eat. I'll be there everyday."
The Hilltoppers go on the road to face Wisconsin of the Big Ten next weekend before returning to L.T. Smith Stadium/Jimmy Feix Field the following Saturday (Sept. 22) for a date with Southwest Missouri in WKU's first ever home game as a member of the Gateway Football Conference. Kickoff for the SMS tilt is set for 1:30 p.m. (CDT) in a contest set to be televised regionally as a part of the Gateway football package.
The remainder of the Toppers' home schedule features Western is action with: Elon (Oct. 6 at 5 p.m.) in the annual Hall of Fame Game, McNeese State (Oct. 20 at 4 p.m.) -- Homecoming, Northern Iowa (Nov. 10 at 4 p.m.), and Southern Illinois (Nov. 17 at 4 p.m.)
For ticket information, contact the WKU Ticket Office in E.A. Diddle Arena (1-800-5-BIG-RED or 270-745-5222).
