No local celebrity takes more selfies with fans than Krazy George.
Which makes it all the more remarkable that the delightfully zany professional cheerleader, who was stopped for selfies every few feet outside San Jose State’s CEFCU Stadium and never said no, made it inside the football stadium Friday night for festivities commemorating 40 years of the Wave.
The moment came toward the end of the second quarter of the Spartans’ homecoming game when the scoreboard displayed photos of Krazy George, aka George Henderson, through the decades, and then introduced the man who needs no introduction in San Jose.
Banging his ever-present drum, he got the Wave — the stand-up, sit-down visual spectacle he invented — started with the student fans and marching band in the south end zone stands, through the main stands, to the north and back to the south. But there was time for only two rounds with this crowd of 17,177 before play resumed on the field against San Diego State.
It’s fitting that the Wave’s 40th birthday was being celebrated at a San Jose State football game because Henderson said it was the Spartans who inspired the Wave.
“The cheer I was doing at San Jose State gave me the idea,” he said. “We would do ‘San’ and everyone would stand up and then ‘Jose’ and then ‘State.’ That really got me to do the section cheer, and the Wave came from that.”
The Wave was first recorded at a playoff game between the New York Yankees and Oakland A’s on Oct. 15, 1981. However, Henderson, a teacher by profession, had already turned cheerleading into a second career at San Jose Earthquakes games in 1974 and San Jose State games soon after.
Henderson says the Wave works best in an oval or bowl stadium versus a flat-ended arena because fans can see it coming around. And he’s sometimes dismayed to see fans doing it at random times in a game.
“You should do it after a run scores or after a touchdown,” he said. “It should be a celebration to keep that energy going.”
Alas, no touchdowns were scored until the double overtime periods in this game. It was the first time since 1975 that San Jose State played a game in which no touchdowns were scored in the first four quarters, according to Lawrence Fan, associate athletics director for football communications at the university. By the end of the regulation time, each team had scored two field goals, making it 6-6; the final result was San Diego State 19, San Jose State 13.
Source: www.mercurynews.com