Sea of purple floods Arrowhead

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Aug 27, 2000 by Chris Grenz Capital-Journal

From 'The Cat Flat' to a Hawkeye-mobile, college football fans ring in new season.

By CHRIS GRENZ

The Capital-Journal

KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- Arrowhead Stadium is known as a very loud, very red place to play football.

On Saturday, that reputation was only half right.

The 77,148 fans at the nearly sold-out stadium were definitely loud, but as thousands of Kansas State University fans traveled to the home of the Kansas City Chiefs to watch the No. 8 Wildcats take on the unranked University of Iowa Hawkeyes, most of the stadium was transformed into a sea of purple and white.

The Hawkeyes and Wildcats both opened their seasons Saturday during the third annual Eddie Robinson Football Classic under mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the mid- to upper-90s. K-State won 27- 7.

Like the seats of Arrowhead, the parking lot during the hours before kickoff was filled with the purple of the Wildcat faithful.

Take Jason Rothwell's gargantuan tailgating contraption for example. Rothwell, a 1996 K-State alumnus who owns a Manhattan landscaping business, converted a Ford F-350 into a deck on wheels. With the help of his friends, he built a wooden deck above the flatbed of his pickup. He calls it "The Cat Flat."

"They made the white lines so close together in the parking lot (at the K-State stadium) that we just couldn't spread out, so we weren't having too much fun tailgating off the back of my pickup," Rothwell said, explaining why they built the elaborate rolling deck, which he said can hold up to 40 people on top and another 15 on the bed. "We figured, well, if we can't go out, we'll go up."

Saturday was the vehicle's first away game, and Rothwell said he was excited to have his favorite team play at Arrowhead.

"This is great," he said. "It's all purple. We've pretty well taken over the joint."

Across the parking lot, Jim Skach was sharing sandwiches with his family and friends beside his full-size van that was plastered with purple signs. The stereo was cranked and the K-State fight song blared from inside.

"We played the fight song all the way up," said Skach, of Wichita.

Skach, a K-State alumnus who has two children attending the university, said he was a big fan of the Arrowhead opening game.

"I think they ought to do it every year," he said. "In fact, I think they should do it twice this year. It's awesome!"

Carla Yost was one of several hundred people who were under large tents during pre-game parties. Yost, of Salina, was also enthusiastic about the Wildcats playing in the Chiefs' stadium.

"It's terrific," she said as she munched on a brownie. "It gets a lot of fans out, and we can root for K-State. On opening day, it's especially good."

K-State fans weren't the only ones who got carried away with their team colors. There were Iowa colors inside and out of Arrowhead as well. In one parking lot pocket of Hawkeye gold and black, a group of Iowa students had traveled to Kansas City in a four-door sedan customized with house paint and elbow grease.

Kory Brady, the gold and black car's 23-year-old owner, said they were thrilled to travel to Arrowhead.

"I love it!" he screamed as his college pals cheered around him. "It's awesome --- even though we're Minnesota Vikings fans."

Brady and his 21-year-old brother, Keith Brady, agreed the K- State fans they had met were pretty nice. But they had to admit there were a lot of them.

"Last time I saw this much purple and white," Keith Brady said, "I was at a wedding."

See PURPLE, page 2-A

Purple