RIDING THE WAVE

I recently attended a baseball game at Dodger Stadium where I thoroughly enjoyed the Dodgers come from behind victory over the Chicago Cubs in extras. Around the 7th inning, with the Dodgers trailing 2 – 1, the crowd began to roar. With the roar I began to notice movement. It started at the left field foul pole as fans, on all levels, rose up in unison while throwing their arms in the air and roaring. It wasn’t all at once but, rather, worked its way around the stadium in sections traveling clockwise. It eventually worked its way completely around the stadium and commenced all over again like…, like…, almost like some kind of strange human wave. Of course, that’s exactly what it was. The fans were doing what all fans, in all stadiums, in all countries do these days. They were doing The Wave.

Have you ever wondered, how did that ever start? I mean, it’s a fairly complex piece of choreography. I sincerely doubt that a group of fans were sitting in some nondescript stadium one day and spontaneously said “Hey, let’s do this! We’ll call it The Wave” Maybe that’s just me. Inquiring minds, especially mine, need to know. Since I’m a research junkie I decided to investigate the phenomenon. To a reserachaholic like myself, Google is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hmmm, I wonder where that expression comes from? No time now. Save it for a later blog.

The first recorded instance of The Wave occurred around 1400 BC, in Egypt, when several local citizens began to spontaneously jump up while frantically waving their arms. Turns out they were trying to ward off a plague of locusts, so this may not count. But it did become an annual ‘thing”.

It was 700 years before The Wave appeared again. Well known Greek historian, Dennis Herodotus, was traveling in Egypt when he witnessed the annual, “Waving of the Locust”, as it was now called, and took tales of the experience back to Greece. Two years later, in 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held in Athens. As the story goes, Dennis was a wrestling fan and had a large wager placed on Luke Hercules of Sparta (pronounced Hair-ah-q-leez), aka the Spartan Smasher. Dennis attempted to organize the crowd to perform The Wave as a distraction to Hercules’ opponents. Things apparently did not work as planned and Hercules was eliminated in the second round by Steve ‘Mad and Bad” Achilles. Unable to pay his debt, Dennis met a sad end from Vitto, ‘The Enforcer’, Hermes. Although, history isn’t entirely clear on this point. There is also a theory that Herodotus met his end with Jeff Lynn Medusa. At any rate, The Wave became a permanent fixture of the Olympics.

Five hundred years later, The Wave migrated west when the Romans stole it from the Greeks. But then, the Romans ripped off most of their culture from other civilizations. Kevin Gluteus Maximus was a well-known gladiator with quite a fan following. The head cheerleader at the Roman Coliseum, Alice Terpsichore, organized the crowd into performing The Wave to cheer her hero on. Rumor has it she was named HEAD cheerleader for a very good reason. The Wave never really caught on in Rome and, when Kevin retired, it retired with him. It did have a short-lived revival around 64 AD under the rule of Nero. Turns out they were simply trying to put out a fire Nero started when he was barbecuing in the backyard.

After Nero, The Wave seems to have disappeared from the pages of history for about 300 years. In 359 AD, Emperor Theodosius divided the Roman Empire between his two sons, strictly to cut down on all the paperwork. The Eastern Roman Empire went to his son, Arcadius, while the Western Roman Empire was granted to his other son, Honduras. This was done with much fanfare and pageantry. Old newspaper accounts indicate the crowd stood and waved their arms in the air as they cheered their approval. Perhaps borrowing from history and emulating the honorarium accorded Kevin Gluteus Maximus.

Approximately 150 years later, The Wave made its first recorded appearance in Merry Olde England, during the time of King Arthur. Possibly introduced by a Roman legionnaire as the Romans were being shown the door. It was a time of peace and tranquility, and Camelot was the center of English commerce. To keep his knights sharp, Arthur had set up a series of tournaments, carried out before the Kings’ court. One of the most popular events was the jousting tournament, where two knights, in full armor, charged towards one another on horseback with blunted lances. Fans would line up on either side of the jousting lanes and cheer their favorite hero on, generally rising and waving as the knight raced by on horseback.

After Arthur, England, along with the rest of Europe, went into a dark period, fittingly known as the Dark Ages. Not much is known of this time in history, and it wasn’t until the 12th century that The Wave was chronicled again. Legend has it that Robin of Locksley, otherwise known as Robin Hood, would be greeted by throngs of cheering peasants when he appeared in their villages to disperse the wealth of which he had just relieved Prince John. Legend has it that Will Scarlett, unofficial head cheerleader of the Merry Men, organized the crowd to perform The Wave in honor of Robin Hood. Some historians believe this to be merely a folktale. What is mistaken for The Wave is actually the peasantry reaching skyward to catch the coins Robin is throwing to the crowd.

Five hundred years later, The Wave appears in France. The Three Musketeers had become famous swordsmen as they dueled their way across the countryside. Naturally, crowds would gather to watch this swordplay. It seems everyone had their favorite. Whether it be Aramis, Athos, Porthos, and later, D’Artagnan. The crowd would exhort their hero on by cheering, each group trying to out-cheer the other. Eventually, this led to them raising their arms as they cheered. Not all the same time but in turns. It became sort of a cheering competition.

Another favorite sport of the time were the frequent beheadings via the guillotine. What better way to round out a Sunday afternoon than to watch someone lose his head, right? The French were a bloodthirsty lot. Louis XIV was more than willing to give them what they wanted. The crowds would take turns standing and waving their arms about, faster, and faster, louder, and louder, until the blade dropped. Ugh!

By now, Europe had discovered the Americas. When the wealth of this strange new land, especially gold, was discovered, treasure seekers by the boatload began to venture to the New World. Often taking by force what they could not gain by trade. Eventually, impoverished immigrants from Europe made the arduous sea voyage to come to the New World. They were usually indentured servants, bound to the rich nobility of Europe. Even so, they hoped that this was an opportunity for a new and better life. Early on, they encountered the Native American Indians who were, for the most part, friendly. The Indians had a strange custom, though. Everywhere the new settlers went, the Indians would greet them by raising their spears and chanting at them. Sort of a modified Wave. They took this as some sort of a formal Native American greeting, which went on for decades. Once the settlers pushed beyond the Mississippi River and entered the Great Plains, they encountered more Indians welcoming them with the same greeting. But then, one intrepid settler named Jeremiah Moskowitz, observed the Indians exhibiting the same behavior on a Buffalo hunt. They would raise their spears and chant at the animals, forcing them to stampede. They had surrounded part of the herd, forcing them to stampede off a cliff, plunging to their deaths. That is when the settlers realized that maybe the Native Americans are not quite so friendly.

Interestingly, a similar strategy was used during the Civil War at the little-known Battle of Muskrat Creek. The Confederacy, realizing they were hopelessly outnumbered, turned to their Indian guide, Harold Dances With Squirrels Johnson, who was a Confederate sympathizer. He suggested the Confederate soldiers raise their muskets and shout at the Union soldiers, hoping to confuse and frighten them. The Confederates did this and, at first, it seemed to work. The Union soldiers were momentarily confused and uncertain of how to respond. But they had an Indian guide of their own named Seymour Sleeps With Sheep Jefferson. He knew exactly what the Confederate army was doing and suggested the Union soldiers respond in kind by raising their muskets and shouting back. The result was the battle was nothing more than a large shouting match. In the end, it was the only battle in which no shots were fired and there were no casualties.

And that, my dear readers, is the history of The Wave. As strange as it sounds, it is, to the best of my knowledge, the absolute truth. Honest Injun! But this is ancient history. You can’t prove it didn’t happen that way. If you want to know a little bit more about the modern evolution of The Wave, please read on.

The Guardian, a newspaper in Great Britain, once took a survey to find out when fans first did The Wave at a sports event. The answers were, to say the least, interesting. A small sampling:

• At the world soccer cup in Mexico in 1986
• At the University of Washington football game in 1981
• At the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984
• At an Oakland A’s baseball game in 1981
• At an NHL game in Canada in the 1970s
• At the Mexico City Olympics in 1968

In a last, very interesting response, a reader wrote “The Wave was started by Native Americans on the Great Plains. They would line up and raise their spears in order to get the bison to run in a certain direction and eventually over a cliff to their death. (Told you it was true).

And the survey says, the correct answer is–At an Oakland A’s game in 1981. The truth of the matter is the first documented evidence of The Wave took place on October 15th at a playoff baseball game between the A’s and the New York Yankees. It was created, and led that day, by Krazy George Henderson, the world’s first professional cheerleader. Sixteen days later, on October 31st, a gentleman by the name of Robb Weller, an alumnus and guest cheerleader at a University of Washington football game being held at Seattle’s Husky Stadium led the fans in The Wave as Washington defeated Stanford 42 – 31. For years Washington State contended that was the first instance of The Wave (although they were playing the Stanford Indians. Just sayin’). But let’s be honest here. October 15th comes before October 31st and there is verified film footage of The Wave being performed at that baseball playoff game. Here is the link. https://youtu.be/_sqGxQoORYE

If you need further proof, Krazy George Henderson is still very much alive and kicking. He is also quite the character. I had the distinct pleasure of talking to the man, the myth, the legend for this blog. Before becoming a professional cheerleader, he was a schoolteacher and cheerleading as a side gig. He was based in the Bay Area and as he became more well-known for his cheerleading antics, he began picking up more and more gigs until, eventually, he was making as much money, if not more, as he was teaching. Since cheering was a lot more fun than teaching, he decided to go into it full-time.

I spoke with George on the phone for this blog. He is now 78 years young and still cheering. On the phone he sounds much younger and immediately asked “who is this?” with a lot of bluster. I explained that I had become curious about the origin of The Wave and decided to write a piece for my blog. When I googled The Wave, naturally, his name came up. He asked me if his name came up when I googled male models. I told him I think both of our days as male models are in the rearview mirror.

So, George, where did Krazy George come from? Turns out he was on the San Jose State judo team when he was in college. Now, if you haven’t seen George in action he is very, how can I say it, out there. Very personable and very noticeable but in a good way. Most of his teammates on the team were Japanese, who tend to be very subdued and reverential. Watching George go through his antics, they all thought he was kind of nuts and began to call him crazy. The name stuck and has followed him, to his betterment and with one slight spelling change, for the rest of his life.

A Southern California transplant, George grew up in the Bay Area and is, obviously, an ardent fan of Bay Area teams. After all, that is where he got his start. I can forgive him that. While he was teaching, he was getting cheerleader gigs at a lot of local venues. These were small venues with small attendance, usually no more than 4000 or 5000 people. This was a blessing in disguise as it allowed him to experiment and try different things as a cheerleader. An early version of The Wave came at his alma mater, San Jose State. He managed to get the fans in one section to stand up and yell “San”. On his signal, the next section stood up and yelled “Jose”. Finally, fans in the third section would rise up on his signal and yell “State”. This would work its way around the stadium with fans alternately standing and yelling San-Jose-State, San-Jose-State, San-Jose-State, faster and faster.

He was also a cheerleader for the now defunct Colorado Rockies of the NHL where, in 1980, he worked a similar magic as sections alternately stood and yelled Go-Rockies-Go!, Go-Rockies-Go! This was a precursor to The Wave of today. San Jose State is a small college and, while they may have an ardent fan base, they didn’t have much in the way of national exposure. The Rockies didn’t have much in the way of exposure either, which is probably why they are defunct.

Being able to experiment in a low-profile setting gave George the opportunity to refine and improve his vision. By 1981 The Wave, as we know it today, was fully born. Trouble is, unless you had attended one of these games, no one had ever seen it. All told, probably fewer than 100,000 people have ever participated in a Stadium Wave. And nobody had ever seen it on television. Remember, this is pre-Internet so there was no way for George to get the exposure he might garner in today’s connected world.

That changed on October 15, 1981. George had been hired to cheer for the Oakland A’s. Much like the Oakland A’s of 2022, that ‘81 team didn’t draw much in the way of fans, even though they fielded a halfway decent team that season. 1981, you may recall, was the strike shortened season. The strike occurred in the middle of the season and forced MLB to split the season into two halves. Oakland won their division in the first half, finishing second in the second half. But that first-place finish gave them an entry into the playoffs against the New York Yankees. So here is the scene. Oakland A’s, at home against the New York Yankees, with over 47,000 fans in attendance at a sold-out Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. It was a night game, being broadcast nationwide. In other words, the perfect storm and the perfect opportunity for George to showcase The Wave. Sounds easy, right?

Not so much, according to George. He knew what he wanted to accomplish but he was competing with the action on the field and the volume of over 47,000 cheering fans. Remember, he wasn’t wired for sound, which made it difficult to convey what he wanted to the fans. He had to rely on his voice and hand gestures to get his point across. And getting them to do what he wanted was kind of like herding cats. Eventually, though, he felt he had gotten enough of his point across to give it a try. On his cue the first section rose up, throwing their hands in the air and cheering, then the second section, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, sixth, seventh,…and then it died. But it was a start. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Which is exactly what George did.  Once again, he exhorted the crowd to do The Wave and, on his cue, fans began to rise, throwing their arms into the air and cheering. The Wave made its way around the stadium, further and further, and then, about a third of the way around, it died. Again! Third time’s the charm! Once again, the fans began doing The Wave. By now, most of the stadium was paying attention, the action on the field having been momentarily forgotten in favor of the action in the stands. The Wave started slowly but gained momentum as it went. Fans rising from their seats, throwing their arms in the air, and cheering. This time it went all the way around the stadium,…and stopped right where it started. Thinking it was over, everyone stood in unison and began applauding.

“No! No! No!” Lamented Krazy George. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to go.” Once again, he marshaled his energy and signaled the crowd. The first section rose in unison, throwing their arms in the air and cheering, then the next section, and the next. The Wave worked its way around the stadium back to where it started. But this time it continued, completing another circuit of the stadium. And then a third. A worldwide phenomenon was born! Or not!

Within months The Wave was being done at venues across North America. Football, baseball, basketball, hockey, college, pros. Everyone in the United States was rocking The Wave. Meanwhile, the rest of the world took a collective yawn and went back to watching soccer. So, while The Wave was very popular here, the world at large barely noticed. That began to change a few years later, in 1984. The Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles that year. Krazy George was there, with The Wave, and several thousand rabid soccer fans from Mexico. Mexican soccer fans were the key. Even though they had never seen The Wave, they took to it immediately. So much so, that they took it home with them after the Olympics. It wasn’t long before The Wave was being done in soccer stadiums throughout Mexico. Meanwhile, the summer games wrapped up, and the rest of the world took a collective yawn and went back to watching European soccer.

But there was one last growth spurt. In 1986 Mexico City was host to the World Cup soccer tournament. The rest of the world took notice, watching in awe as these crazy Mexican fans performed The Wave at every game. In fact, to the rest of the world, it became known as the Mexican Wave. It wasn’t long after that when The Wave was being done all around the globe. All thanks to Krazy George Henderson who had this weird notion to have fans participate in the game rather than sit on their hands watching.