How did you become a Shocker?

[WuShock16]

Two words: Jason Perez (betcha no one else has that as a reason!).

It wouldn't be the reason that I am a Shocker fan, per se, but I do have a story about him.

My very first time attending a Shocker game (of anything, I am pretty sure) was January 17, 1998. It was a doubleheader with both the men and women hoops squads. The women played SMS when Jackie Stiles was a freshman. My high school played Claflin (when Jackie was a senior in high school, she dropped 25 on us....in the first quarter, finishing with 55), so we certainly knew about her talent. My dad and a friend were with me, and realizing that the seats for the women's game were general seating, we sat right behind the north basket. Stiles scored 38, but WSU still won 87-82, I believe.

The men played Southern Illinois afterwards. We were up by where the band is now for this one. Oddly enough, Jackie's dad and brothers sat behind us for this game. I don't remember much about the game, other than that SIU was up 2 at the end with 2 free throws to ice it. They missed both, and WSU rebounded and called a timeout. After the timeout, Jason Perez took the inbounds pass, dribbled all the way down court to the top of the key, and hit a 3 at the buzzer to win it. I don't think Jason stopped running, as he went straight to the tunnel after making the shot.

Even now, that day still ranks in my Top 10-20 sports days of my life.

[martymoose]

Speaking of Jason Perez, as a student I can remember at least a couple of games where fans left early because we were down what seemed to be an insurmountable about of points with a minute left and he'd nail 3 after 3 to get the win. We'd take off running out of HLA making sure to let everyone know what they missed.

[mickeylegal]

My dad took me to a couple of games during the 80-81 season and after that I was hooked. I went to games whenever I could get a ticket. I got married shortly after I graduated from high school and my husband worked security for the basketball games and I would go to the games that he worked. I brought my daughter with me when she was a baby. (It wasn't as loud then as it is now.) After my divorce, I decided to finish my degree at WSU and I graduated in 1997 with my first degree and my second in 2011. It took a while to finish both my degrees because I was working full-time and raising a kid. When my daughter was 8, I started taking her to most every game. We would sit up in the rafters watching the games and I would be yelling at the refs and cheering with all my might, which embarrassed my daughter. Now my daughter joins in yelling at the refs and cheers with all her might. While I was a student the second time, we would stand in the student section. We were in the student section that year Matt hit the Valentines Day 3 pointer and we both still talk about how we could feel the roar in that place.

[Snapshot9]

Well, I was originally a big Wings fan, having season tickets for over 7 years, and also playing indoor soccer. My brother has had Shocker season tickets I think since 1967. About 10 years ago, since he had 4
season tickets started taking Mom and I to the Shocker games when they were still playing out of the Kansas Coliseum. What got me pretty well hooked on the Shockers was Randy Burns and Jamar Howard,
loved to watch them play. Then I started following the Shocks, and the new players coming in each year. Turgeon was doing better and better each year, but after he left, I was worried about who we would bring in, but Schaus hit a home run bringing in Gregg Marshall. The program is getting better and better each year, and we set new 'firsts' every year.

[im4wsu]

I voted in the "Grew up ... never attended class here" category, although I actually did take one 3-hour summer course on campus.

My earliest memories are a few games in the Forum downtown. Burned vividly in my mind are the KU and San Francisco games in 1955. Bill Russell and KC Jones were dynamic. Caught games on holiday break from 63-67 and then returned to Wichita in 1978 and have had season tickets since that time.

On American Countryside on the radio this morning, they talked about Gene Johnson coaching the mcPherson Glob Oil team, the AAU and the first team in the Olympics in the 30's. Claimed that McPherson team invented the dunk and that sportswriters named it "dunk" because it seemed similar to dunking a donut in coffee. Also mentioned the fast-paced pass-it-up-the-court style and full court zone press. I was somehat disappointed that there was no mention of Wichita and the Henry's team. Friends of my dad played on that one.

[benishock]

I don't remember the Cleo Littleton or Forum years, but I do remember the likes of Everett Wessell and Don Locke. I can remember Rick Weaver ("in your receiver") before Gus Grebe. While in high school I had season tickets one year during the Stallworth-Bowman era and got to see the gresat Cincinnati and Loyola Chicago teams. I lived in Oklahoma during the Carr/Levingston years but still got to see them twice in Tulsa and several times here. I will definitely be Shocker on my death bed!

[Steeleshocker]

I loved to play basketball as a kid. For some reason, although I was not very good and pretty small, it just stuck. I made myself focus on defense, which is why I love Marshall as a coach.

My parents were both OU alums, so I didn't have a natural connection to Wichita State. But when I was young, my first experience of a shocker game was my dad taking me to the opening game of the Cessna classic, where I witnessed LD Swanson's buzzer beater to win the game.

The next morning I went to the youth basketball camp at Levitt, and the game out free GA tickets to the campers. My dad originally didn't want to go, saying it would be impossible to top the buzzer beater of the night before. Luckily he changed his mind and we got to witness LD do it all over again in dramatic fashion.

From there we would go see a few games each year, but it was hard to get too excited as there weren't very many victories. But when I decided to attend WSU it became real for me. I was in the basketball band for several years, went on the road with 5 other students to witness the run to the sweet 16. I still have my hat that I would wear over my gold wig and face paint. Graduated with BS in 2007, MS in 2012. During school, I always picked up guest tickets for my parents as they had also become big fans (my dad even once admitted that if WSU played Oklahoma he would cheer for WSU).

Once I graduated, my parents surprised me with the greatest gift ever. Season tickets for the four of us (my wife is a recovering KSU alum). Every year, that's all I get for my birthday and Christmas (well, sometimes they get me new WSU apparel), and it's all I ever need.

[SHOXAAC]

I loved to play basketball as a kid. For some reason, although I was not very good and pretty small, it just stuck. I made myself focus on defense, which is why I love Marshall as a coach.

My parents were both OU alums, so I didn't have a natural connection to Wichita State. But when I was young, my first experience of a shocker game was my dad taking me to the opening game of the Cessna classic, where I witnessed LD Swanson's buzzer beater to win the game.

The next morning I went to the youth basketball camp at Levitt, and the game out free GA tickets to the campers. My dad originally didn't want to go, saying it would be impossible to top the buzzer beater of the night before. Luckily he changed his mind and we got to witness LD do it all over again in dramatic fashion.

From there we would go see a few games each year, but it was hard to get too excited as there weren't very many victories. But when I decided to attend WSU it became real for me. I was in the basketball band for several years, went on the road with 5 other students to witness the run to the sweet 16. I still have my hat that I would wear over my gold wig and face paint. Graduated with BS in 2007, MS in 2012. During school, I always picked up guest tickets for my parents as they had also become big fans (my dad even once admitted that if WSU played Oklahoma he would cheer for WSU).

Once I graduated, my parents surprised me with the greatest gift ever. Season tickets for the four of us (my wife is a recovering KSU alum). Every year, that's all I get for my birthday and Christmas (well, sometimes they get me new WSU apparel), and it's all I ever need.

Despite the raisin from your Dad, you turned out well!!!

[Blackmag]

Fan

My father was in the Air Force when he got stationed out at McConnell in 1964. The Shockers were ranked very high at the time and I recall listening to the games with him. But I also liked the Jayhawks because they were on t.v. all the time and I like Darnel Valentine. But as I got older and was attending W.S.U. during the Carr, X, Cliff L, Aubrey days I became hooked. I remember the battle of new orleans and the shot heard round the world to get us in the elite 8. Shocker station was a big thing back then and Gene Smithson had put togetheir a dream team. Then the team was hit with the probation and a black cloud engulfed Shocker Nation over the 90s. Smithson, Folger, Thompson, Randy, Cohen. But I held on to the hope that someday we could get back to what we had before the probation. I always thought that the people up north had something to do with it and therefor I basically started a hatred for all things K.U. But the last 13 to 14 yrs with Turgeon and now the ultimate guru Marshal I feel we are on to some of the biggest highs this program has ever seen. Been a Shocker for over 30 yrs, and both my daughter and son have since graduated from W.S.U and are also big fans. Love reading about everyones story...makes me proud to be a Shocker fan...

[Rocky Mountain Shock]

Great stories!

Mine is rather pedestrian. I grew up in Wichita but wasn't old enough to remember WSU basketball until the Dark Ages. Because of this, like a lot of other Wichita kids, WSU basketball didn't even register as an interest of mine as I was growing up. I got my bachelor's at Friends, and after a brief stint in the real world retreated back to school and worked on my graduate degree at WSU. I started there in 2005, right when Turgeon really got the program firing on all cylinders. My two years of grad school, I only missed a few games due to class. Looking back, I wish I would have skipped class. The highlight was rushing the court after the Illinois State game in the '06 season when we won the MVC championship for the first time in a very long time. I got to shake Turgeon's hand on the court. The Sweet 16 run that spring sealed the deal, and I was a fan for life.

After moving to Colorado in 2007, I continued following the program through the tough transition between Turgeon and Marshall. The name recognition we have outside of Kansas has undergone a dramatic change the past few years. When I first moved here, the people who had actually heard of WSU asked me why I was such a basketball fan because "it is a baseball school." Now I have random people at Rockies or Nuggets games see my WSU hat and yell "Go Shockers" from across the concourse, or people at work tell me how much they enjoyed watching us in the tournament last year. I don't know how to tell you this folks, but we're kind of a big deal.