Out-of-towners Badger UNC supporters during weekend

On Saturday afternoon, the Carolina Inn was host to a pre-game "huddle" complete with cheerleaders, a bluegrass band and trays of eastern North Carolina barbecue pork.

Almost 500 fans were there - all of them dressed in red.

This was the "Badger Huddle," a pep rally for Wisconsin alumni and fans.

"We're a bunch of nutcases - we go where they go," says Wendi Jaeck, a Badger fan who resides in Mooresville.

"We love our football, and win or lose, we just support them."

Some fans were local, but most traveled across the country to see their team play the Tar Heels. Many of the fans came from Madison, home of the University of Wisconsin.

"It's like a brotherhood with us," fan Patti Kendall says. "If you see someone with a Badger shirt on, they're your friend forever."

Kendall made the trip from Madison and has been going to away games for the better part of seven years.

But these Wisconsinites brought more than support. Kegs of beer and trays of bratwurst were set up alongside the barbecue.

Also, a few Badger fans decided to wear the famous "cheese hat" - a triangular tribute to the state's dairy prowess.

The Wisconsin Alumni Association also organized an "Alumni Tour" leading up to Saturday's game. The tour brought about 200 fans from Georgia, Washington D.C., Connecticut, Illinois and North Carolina.

"It gives everyone a chance to see friends and classmates, have a few beers, and get all fired up for the game," says Paula Bonner, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

Jennifer Englander, the founder of the Wisconsin Alumni Association in New Orleans, says the growth of the relatively new group halted as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

"It goes by the wayside for a little while," Englander says about the association. "You've just got to hope that everyone's OK."

Englander moved to Cary before the hurricane hit and will be returning home soon.

"Life goes on wherever you end up," Englander says.

Robert Esser, a 1949 Wisconsin graduate, came with his wife, Mary, and two of their friends.

"Our friends talked us into coming, and we're glad we did. This will have been a good trip irregardless (of the outcome)," Esser says.

One family estimated the trip from Wisconsin cost them $1,500. All of the families say they thought the cost was worth it.

Inside the Carolina Inn, the bar was packed with dozens of Wisconsin fans. In the middle of all this were about ten light blue shirts.

"I've never seen (this place) like this. I was shocked," said Terry Crumpler, a Carolina fan from Winston-Salem. "All the Carolina fans are looking at each other, like, 'What's going on?'"

Crumpler says he won't return to the "Non-Carolina Inn" until they change their policy of allowing visiting fans to dominate the grounds on game day.

As the rally wound down, mascot Bucky Badger, a group of Wisconsin cheerleaders and Bonner led the crowd in a rendition of the alma mater.

Playful taunts from passing groups of Carolina fans could be heard then and other times throughout the event.

Wisconsin went on to beat UNC 14-5.

A singer for local bluegrass band Cadillac Stepbacks introduced one particularly sad song by asking, "Do they have heartbreak in Wisconsin?"

Not this weekend.

 

Contact the Features Editor at features@unc.edu.