We’ve all experienced it. There is nothing quite like it. And there is only one time that you get to experience it for the first time. Do you remember your first Marshall live sporting event? For lots of fans, that first time was as a student at Marshall, cheering on their new school. But for others it was much earlier, and someone took them as a kid.
That was the case for me, as my aunt took me and my brother to a Marshall football game with her son. It was the second ever game in what would become Joan C. Edwards Stadium. I had Marshall shirts and I had loosely followed the football and basketball teams over the years, but actually going to a game was going to be a different animal. There was no tailgating exposure to us that day, but what a performance we would see on the field. Us kids explored both sides of the stands and the unfinished end zone while watching Michael Payton, Troy Brown, and crew run up 70 points on the other team. It was electric! And my arms felt like jelly after all those “Thunderclap” celebrations.
Many of the Herd faithful here in Huntington were exposed to Marshall sports at a very early age and it has stuck with them. In turn, they have done the same for their children. And that cycles will go on and on, a bond shared by fathers and mothers, sons and daughters; and that first game always so vivid in their memories.
Jeff McDowell says it was the passion of the fans he witnessed that captured his heart:
Jeff McDowell
“I would say my first Marshall Football game was around 1985/1986. I grew up near Fairfield Stadium so I remember watching all the people in green walking to the game. My brother and I passed football in the front yard as the fallen leaves crunched underfoot. We were both excited as we walked to our first game. I remember stopping by Prindle Field to tailgate with my parents’ friends. There was an old car painted in the rival school’s colors and people paid a few dollars to hit it with a sledge hammer. I remember sitting in the general admission endzone seats with my mother and father. Watching the team run down the steep decline onto the field with their helmets shining in the bright fall sun. I forget who they played, or if they won, but I remember loving the passion and pageantry of Marshall Football. I have been a fan ever since.”
Chris Tatum was also at Fairfield for his first experience, and he still has a bit of it with him for every Marshall game:
Chris Tatum
“It’s funny how the mind works. What we saw, what we heard, or how something made us feel.
My earliest memory of Marshall Athletics takes me back to a time that I don’t even remember how old I was. I do know that I was maybe somewhere around five to seven years old. I don’t remember specifically what grade I was in, but I do remember going to a Marshall football game; an experience that started on something I would call “Pringle Field”. If you know you know. Walking around there as a kid, seeing how excited people were, how much fun people were having, and how everyone looked and acted like friends. Like family too! It was amazing as a kid to be fed, hugged, and talked to at every stop. Even more amazing was to see how excited people were when that team—our team; what became my team that day—come out onto that field. Everyone was excited and at that moment, and I was too.
“I don’t remember the score that day, nor who they played. I don’t remember who I was with except for my dad, but I do remember certain things about that day: The walk into “Pringle Field.” The first walk under the seats. The sounds, smells, and voices (that’s what I said to my dad) at Fairfield Stadium. The football that sailed next to our feet from an extra point. How I felt.
“To this day, whether it’s football, basketball, soccer, softball or whatever, I still get some of that “first” feeling when going to any game. There are so many more life-time Marshall memories in my catalog, this just happens to be the first. That is why I’ve always said, ‘Go Herd or go home.’ We Are. . .”
Kenny Hatfield had a unique experience in the Cam Henderson Center on his birthday:
Kenny Hatfield
“On my 15th birthday, Dec. 9 2000, my parents brought me to my first Marshall athletic event. It was the Marshall Memorial Classic which featured 2 games that day, Iona vs Eastern Michigan and The Herd vs Niagara. This team had Tamar Slay and JR Vanhoose, and was coming off a win over top 25 Dayton.
The first thing I remember about that day is the number of people. I had never attended a college or professional game at that point in my life so it was the biggest crowd I had ever seen. Second, my aunt was able to get the PA announcer—I assume it was Mike Kirtner if he was doing it back then—to wish me a happy birthday. And lastly, late in the game, a breakaway dunk by Joda Burgess, who was mostly known to shoot threes. The crowd went nuts, and I was hooked. At only 15 years old, I knew that day that I would attend Marshall University.”
Fans for life and making sure their kids are too. Be a part of that circle and take your kids to a Herd game today!
