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By
Todd
Heustess
Sometimes things just catch you by surprise, like Mariah
Carey’s big comeback, Al Gore making an entertaining movie,
or Paris Hilton arrested for DUI. I had no expectations for
my tailgate experience in Tucson for the Arizona-Southern
Cal game.
I originally made the plans
to go because I was already going to be in Phoenix and I
knew people form L.A. going to the game, not because I had a
burning desire to see a Wildcat football game. I figured
with SC in town it would be a sellout (it was) there would
be some excitement as the home underdog looked to spring an
upset, and if all else failed I could write about all the SC
fans who traveled for the game (there were plenty to be
sure).
Imagine my surprise when I
realized that the tailgate scene in Tucson for Wildcat games
is close to perfect. Was it the setting, with the Santa
Catalina Mountains serving as an especially dramatic
backdrop? Was it the dedicated group of gay fans who have a
3-year-old strong tailgate? Was it finding an active gay
fraternity whose members like to tailgate like any other
fraternity? Was it all the hot shirtless guys running around
in red and blue body paint? Whatever it was, I’m glad I made
the trip because tailgating in Tucson was as good as it
gets.
Mary O’Mahoney is the
Assistant Director of Sport Clubs & Family Programs at UA
served as my guide to the rollicking tailgate scene at UA.
She responded to my post on the UA message board and told me
that she and her friends have been tailgating together for
UA football games for about three years and that most the
crowd was gay sports fans. At the same time, Larry Muth,
Secretary of the Arizona (UA) Chapter of Delta Lambda Phi,
contacted me to let me know that a number of the brothers at
DLP are football fans and would be going to the game against
the Trojans.
I was especially excited to
meet Larry and the DLP brothers because I had never talked
to or met a member of an active gay fraternity and their
on-campus experience was as intriguing to me as their
interest in sports. After talking to Larry I realized that
my tailgate experience in Tucson was not going to be just
about partying and football, but a chance to see first-hand
how the gay collegiate experience is changing for the
better. A gay fraternity that is accepted by the campus at
large is a new and exciting concept for me, but as I found
out its actually not that big a deal, which for me is kind
of a big deal.
At UA, all the major sports
facilities are located together in a cluster on the east
side of the campus. Arizona Stadium is next to the McKale
Center which is next to the baseball field. There is a giant
lawn behind the McKale Center and the McKale Lawn is the
epicenter of the Arizona tailgate experience. Spaces on the
lawn are reserved and in accordance with Pac-10 rules, no
one can arrive on the lawn to tailgate earlier than 5 hours
before game time. The game was at 5 p.m. and by 1 p.m. the
lawn was packed with an assortment of campers, RVs, SUVs,
trucks, cars, and a few thousand Wildcat and Trojan fans.
The McKale Lawn is just a couple hundred yards from Arizona
Stadium, less than a five-minute walk. Open containers are
allowed within in the confines of the lawn and uniformed
tailgate staff (not kidding) are there to check parking
passes and keep people from walking into the street with
open containers.
The spot where Mary and her
friends gather to tailgate is owned by Daniel Scott, who
also happens to be the owner of Woody’s, one of the most
popular gay bars in Tucson. Daniel and his partner Danny
have had the spot for three years and it has become
increasingly popular among not only their friends and
families, but gay UA students, alums and anyone else who
likes a good party. No one makes a big deal about the fact
that it’s mostly gay fans (slightly more men than women) and
visiting Trojan fans were warmly welcomed as well. Also on
hand were some bartenders from Woody’s who to a man told me
that that weren’t really football fans but they loved the
lively social atmosphere at Daniel’s spot and on the lawn in
general. In fact many people I met and talked to didn’t
actually go to the game but were there to socialize and have
fun.
Our tailgate experience was
divided between hanging out at Daniel’s spot eating and
drinking (no kegs here, mostly imported beer, finger foods
and pizza that was delivered by a local establishment) and
walking around the lawn checking out scene. Walking around
the lawn seemed to be the most popular thing to do and the
Wildcat Band and cheerleaders even made an appearance. The
scene at the lawn reminded me of tailgating at South
Carolina, walking around the fairgrounds and the parking
areas near the stadium, except that in Tucson the stadium is
on campus and the Lawn is nicely self-contained, which makes
it perfect for wandering around, drink in hand. The scene on
the lawn was evenly divided between alumni and students, and
everywhere you looked there were little parties going on,
everyone excited and happy, including the SC fans.
I love the excitement and
buzz of being a game where the home team is an underdog and
while Arizona coach Mike Stoops is definitely restoring
excitement to the Wildcat football program, make no mistake
that UA was a definitely underdog to SC. I think that added
to the exciting pregame atmosphere because there was enough
improvement in UA for their fans to dare to dream of an
upset, however unlikely that might be. That buzz carried
over to the game as nearly 59,000 fans jammed Arizona
Stadium for a game that was surprisingly close. I didn’t
make into the game until mid-way through the second quarter,
and even then the lawn was still packed with partying fans.
SC won the game, 20-3, but the game was closer than that
with SC scoring late to finally put away the determined
Wildcat team. After the game I think there were even more
people on the lawn than before the game and the party went
on past 11.
The next day I sat down with
three members of DLP because I really wanted to talk to them
about their experience at UA as a gay fraternity. The UA
Chapter was originally founded in 1991 but only lasted a few
years, disbanding because of lack of interest. It was
refounded again in 2001, but that only lasted a year with
the chapter again disbanding because of disinterest. Two
years ago, another attempt was made to reestablish the UA
chapter and this time it appears to be working. DLP started
as a campus interest group in 2005, gained members and
momentum as word got out around campus about their presence.
On Aug. 27 this year DLP officially became a fraternity at
UA with membership in the Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) and
full recognition and support by the University.
As I listened to the guys
recount the history of DLP I listened becoming more and more
intrigued because the idea of a gay fraternity coexisting
with other fraternities and sororities on a large campus
like UA was fascinating to me. I kept asking what was the
general reaction by the campus and community at large that a
gay fraternity would soon be existing at UA mostly because
for someone of my generation (I’m 37) the idea of a gay
fraternity not being a big deal, is well, a big deal.
Alex Grubb, Vice-President of
the UA chapter said that the existence of the chapter at UA
has barely made news, that in general it just wasn’t a big
concern among students, the administration or alumni. He and
the brothers think that with today’s generation of students
that something like this is just not anything to get excited
or upset about. According to Alex, there were a few letters
to The Wildcat, the student paper, saying that there
shouldn’t be a gay fraternity on campus but those letters
were definitely part of the minority view.
All but two of the current
fraternity and sorority presidents voted in support of the
DLP chapter according to Alex and that basically the other
fraternities seem to think it’s not a big deal and he in
fact wondered if they even know that DLP exists. The
fraternity presidents know that DLP is on campus because
they voted to approve it but Alex said that’s it’s possible
their existence is such a non-event that it may not have
been communicated to all the members of the individual
fraternity chapters or that maybe it has and no one really
cares or just not a big deal. That’s what I kept hearing
from the guys, that it just wasn’t a big deal and that there
have been no problems, nothing negative about their
existence at UA.
DLP had its first official
rush this fall, adding seven new brothers to the chapter,
bringing their total membership to 21. Alex said that they
are approaching the other Greek organizations about having
mixers and socials and while the sororities have definitely
been more receptive to the idea, Alex says that some of the
fraternities may be interested as well, but nothing official
has been planned. According to Larry and Alex, they are so
new that they are just focused on making the chapter viable
and organized. Right now they do not have a house, and in
the short-term getting a house is cost-prohibitive because
of their small size. However if they continue to have good
turnouts for rush, and bring in good pledge classes, a house
is not a far-fetched idea.
The brothers don’t yet have
enough members to fully participate in intramural sports,
but it something they are interested in doing according to
Derrick Pooyouma, the fund-raising chair at DLP. Derrick
said that many brothers are avid volleyball fans and play
club volleyball and that they all participated in Greek Week
held in the spring with full support of the other
fraternities and sororities. Derrick is an avid athlete,
competing in three or four triathlons a year is an
experienced rock climber and hiker and is a member of the
ZonaZoo, a campus-wide student sports organization that
allows students to get tickets to UA sporting events for a
fee of $60 a year. Community service is also a very
important component to fraternity experience at DLP. Derrick
will be combining his interest in sports with the chapter’s
community service goals when he represents DLP in the
Tricats (the campus Triathlon group) Aquathlon (swimming and
running) on Oct. 8, a campus-wide fundraiser for Camp
Wildcat, a student-run non profit organization devoted to
improving the lives of Tucson’s financially, mentally, and
physically disadvantaged youth. The Tricats are the campus
Triathlon group (Derrick’s a member) and an Aquathlon is a
new and fast growing sports event that combines swimming and
running.
After talking with Larry,
Derrick and Alex I realized that there was nothing that
special about their chapter, that they were a regular
fraternity and they are treated as such by the University
and other students, which too me, makes them very special.
I’m always excited to meet other gay sports fans across the
country when I travel, but when I’m lucky enough to witness
positive changes affected by the next generation of gay
leaders, my happiness transcends sports and gives me hope
for the future.
Related:
--Tailgating
at Ohio State
--Outsports
tailgate tour set for 2006
Oct. 2, 2006 |
