By Trevor Joelson
In spite of having the fourth highest average attendance per game in the nation in 2006, University of Louisville fans are often ridiculed for their lack of support and the comfort that they find in their expensive seats that keeps them from standing up. Stuart Grossman, equipped with his referee jersey, considers himself a throwback to how fans used to be.
“One of the weaknesses of Louisville is that you pay so much for seats and the people don’t get up and get excited,” said Grossman.
Section 112 of Freedom Hall is Grossman’s domain for every U of L home game. He has four season tickets in the section, and frequently brings along family and friends. Occasionally three generations of Grossmans sit together, but as the eldest, Stuart will always have the end seat.
However, Grossman doesn’t sit on the end so he can leave early and beat the traffic like many other fans. Instead he sits there so he can easily access the stairs, yelling at the referees and waving his notorious striped jersey.
“I think it is awesome that an older man can be so dedicated to a team and be so fanatical about them,” said freshmen communication major and L-Raiser Chris Davidson.
Grossman has been a Cardinal from birth. His mother was a center for the 1916 U of L women’s basketball team and his family has lived in the city of Louisville for six generations.
Grossman even remembers games when Louisville played at the Armory. Back then there were only 1,000 wooden chairs for a game. So when the team moved to Freedom Hall in 1956, the Grossman family purchased a set of 12 season tickets.
It has been a while since two Grossmans have been seen, but Stuart and his wife, Phyllis, used to attend games together. According to Grossman, she was an even bigger sports fan than him, so anybody that went to a game last decade could see the two running up and down the aisle yelling at the refs together.
The Grossmans have even had relations with former team members. Back before the NCAA started cracking down on violations, the Grossmans formed lasting relationships with many players. One such player was Lancaster Gordon. Gordon was the eight pick overall in the 1984 NBA draft. He averaged 12 points per game in his career on 50.4 percent shooting.
Gordon came to Louisville from Jackson, Miss. Since he had no family here in Louisville the Grossmans took him in and made the transition to college life for him easier. Grossman said that because of the tight restrictions on players, many are isolated and have a difficult time transitioning to college life.
Gordon played in the final four in 1982 and 1983 and Grossman was there to watch him. Grossman even helped to set up the U of L associates and road trips to the big games. By traveling in large groups they were able to keep the prices low and the spirit high. Grossman was lucky enough to see the Cardinals win the National Championship in 1980 and 1986.
Another friend of Grossman is Denny Crum, the coach of the team that won the national championship. Crum and Grossman are close and talk regularly at the games. After a recent victory, they noted how much fun it looked like this young Cardinal team was having. Grossman attributes much of that to the fans.
“The [fans] need to get into it more, it has a lot of effect on the players,” said Grossman. He added that when the Cardinals are running they are doing well, and they run more when the crowd is loud.
While Grossman puts some of the blame on the fans he casts a lot of it on the cheerleaders and their lack or interaction.
“Cheerleaders aren’t really cheerleaders any more, they are more acrobats,” said Grossman.
He remembers when the cheerleaders used to go up in the stands and be interactive with the students. Cheerleaders used to be more like the Cardinal Bird, jumping around, starting chants and getting the crowd excited.
To fill the void Grossman made himself into U of L’s biggest cheerleader. You can still spot Grossman running up and down the aisle with the referee jersey that he received as a Christmas present from a fan a few years ago. Grossman also gets the crowd excited and the refs irritated; in fact, so much so that before one game a referee asked him, “Can’t you just be quiet today?”
Grossman said that today’s game is fast and that many of the refs should start considering retirement, but some U of L students feel that the university should consider retiring Grossman and his striped jersey.
“I think that they should retire his referee jersey into the rafters,” said sophomore accounting major and basketball season ticket holder Rob Kirkwood. “Everyone knows who he is, and I think that it would be a good tribute to all the Freedom Hall fanatics.”
