Photos by Ralph Freso
Wilson Neitzel and Evan McKee are this year’s leaders of the Havocs, the name for all Grand Canyon University students, though among them are the fans who create pandemonium at sporting events.
The pair's goal is to be the craziest of the crazy, "you know, to set the tone,” said McKee, Havocs vice president, on the dancing, yelling, barking, jumping and pointing that has earned the student section national publicity over the years.
All that activity is vigorous.
“It looks like you are starting a workout,” McKee said of his smartwatch informing him that it thinks he's starting an exercise session during the pregame frenzy they help create.
Havocs president Neitzel adds that his watch gives a “strain level on a scale from 0-21, with 21 being the equivalent of running a marathon. My strain number is usually around 19-20 on game days.”
The two leaders and their loyal legions will be in full workout mode again tonight at Midnight Madness, the event where the men’s and women’s basketball teams are unveiled to their adoring student fans. The Oregon natives are among 18 Havocs student leaders who harness a combination of meticulous planning and organic enthusiasm at sporting events.
Neitzel said everything from the tailgates, the music, the time-out routines, the food and in-game entertainment, such as the Havocs' Shootout for Scholarships, helps to maintain their goal: “Keep them energized throughout the whole game.”
They said they will implement new initiatives this year, including free cake when the team scores 75 points or more and a return to neon Electro Lope theme night, among others.
They’ve revamped the playlists, mixed the right energy tracks, planned a week of events for Camp Elliott, where students camp out all week on the Quad, and met with all the bosses, including Spirit Programs Senior Manager Jesi Weeks, Athletic Director Jamie Boggs and Campus Sport and Game Operations/ Entertainment Manager Greg Jenkins, to create the Midnight Madness theme of Lope Vegas.
Vegas has become an NCAA launching point for GCU in recent years at the WAC tournament, and this year will be the Lopes' last before going to the West Coast Conference.
“Already, there has been remarkable collaboration between the Havocs and both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, kickstarting a partnership that aims to reinforce GCU’s reputation as the biggest party in college basketball,” Weeks said. “The highly anticipated Midnight Madness promises to be a standout event, featuring high-energy acts and performances designed to create an electric atmosphere as Las Vegas is painted purple for Lope Vegas.”
Neitzel said that a highlight will be a unique introduction of basketball coaches Bryce Drew and Molly Miller and the Vegas theme, when “the Blue Man Group turns into the Purple Man Group,” hotels are residence halls and the city lights are purple, of course.
But their role as leaders is about more than planning. It’s creating a spirit that has other schools calling them to ask how to replicate it in their student sections.
“It is kind of like a feeling on campus. GCU is a place where it's built into the culture here. We are bought into supporting students and student athletes,” Neitzel said. “People want to be something bigger than themselves, and joining a big group of people at a basketball game is something they can do to be a part of the bigger community.
”We preach all the time – it’s just being together.”
In recent years, the Havocs have brought that zest from men’s basketball games to other sports, including leading students to set attendance records at women’s volleyball and women’s soccer games this fall.
Neitzel, a senior secondary education major, said he has gained valuable skills of leading a team, as he hopes to one day be a school administrator, while it’s a natural career starter for junior McKee’s study of sports and entertainment management.
Players tell the Havocs that they help, acting as a sixth man during games, and they also helped them to decide to enroll at GCU.
But, let’s face it, this is a lot of good fun.
McKee said he will never forget rushing the arena floor after defeating San Diego State last December, GCU’s first win against a ranked team.
“This year, we have this super opportunity in front of us now, with this great atmosphere but also this highly competitive basketball team with high-level talent,” he said.
Neitzel’s highlight was last spring’s NCAA Tournament win against Saint Mary’s, when the national audience marveled at these crazy students creating a ruckus at GCU’s first-ever win in the Division I tourney.
“It was absolutely electric,” he said. “When (CBS Sports) put out ‘One Shining Moment,’ I sent it to my dad,” he said of the famous tournament-ending video montage. “Look, I’m in it!”
That’s him, wearing a purple wig.
“That was insane. The experiences the Havocs have created for me have been monumental.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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Related content:
GCU News: Grateful Havocs head to The Big Dance, screaming and leaping to Spokane
GCU News: Diehard Lopes fans are cool with braving the heat for Camp Elliott
GCU News: Lope-A-Palooza slideshow
