everyWEDNESDAY
The weekly feature page of the University Daily Kansan October 26.1977
Henry Sillian, a 1949 KU graduate, has been tailigating for 27 years. He is known around the parking lots as "Mr. Tailiger."
A soggy Saturday might urge some Jayhawk football fans to stay away from the stadium until game time.
That is, of course, unless they're tailzaters.
Talligators are football fans who come to the game early, park in the grass and the parking lots around the stadium and have picnic lunches from the trunks (or keys)
BEFORE long about 100 carloads of tallaters lined the area around the stadium. The drizzling rain kept many of them inside their cars for a while, but eventually they poured out to brave the rain in the fine tradition of tailoring.
For tailgaters, the football game begins about two hours before kickoff—come rain, hail, sleet or snow. And last Saturday's rainy game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys was no exception.
Around 11 a.m. they started trickling in-a few Winnipesah, vans and station wagons, but mostly large American cars with big trunks.
Umbrellas, raincasts and hooded ponchos were the standard gear of the day as many tallagers huddled around tables while drinking coffee, eating, drinking and dodging raindrops.
The aroma of food and the sounds of cheerful voices and laughter indicated that the inclement weather couldn't tallytailers' spirit of ampradepte.
"You just can't be a fair weather sportsman and support KU," Marge James, 1960 graduate, said before the game.
James said she and her husband had been baligning for the past five years and hadn't missed many games since then.
SOME OF the fans said they had been tailgating since 1950 or earlier.
Henry Sullivan, 1949 graduate, is called "Mr. Tailgater" by many of his friends. Sullivan had he been selected for years and had rarely missed a game.
"Last week was the first homecoming game that I missed since 1946," he said.
The aroma of fried chicken arose from the car trunk of Grace Nettles, 1950 graduate. His wife, Jane, offered food and drink to passbyss.
"We've been coming up here for 20 years," Nettles said. "We never stay away from the weather."
Jim and Sally Thompson, 1960 graduates, said they had been to many games when the weather was much worse than just rain.
"THIS KIND of weather is a lot better than when it gets terrily cold at the Missouri game," Mrs. Thompson said.
She said they had been tailgating with other couples for 25 years.
One group of tailgators had an elaborate setup in the back of their van. They were partying around a large folding table set with an assortment of hot food. Falling rain kicked at the three windows of Indalera, which completed the setup.
JOHN FELTS, 1971 graduate, had some interesting memories.
"We were here when Vern Miller said if he caught anyone in the parking lot with a beer he was going to throw him in the slammer," he said.
High Times
Felts said he knew that warning would never come through, as he defiantly opened another beer.
Other taliaters said that the type of food and drink people brought to the game depended largely on the weather. Toward the end of the football season the food gets warmer and the drink gets cooler, according to Don Trotter, 1970 graduate.
"We usually switch from beer to bourbon by the MU game," he said.
In amusing year after year involves more than just the distilled spirit, at least to Jim Thompson, 1950 graduate.
"I wouldn't miss the game for anything," he said. "I guess you could call us just a bunch of good old diehands."
WHILE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STREAM INTO KU'S MEMORIAL STADIUM, A SMALL BUT CONVIVIAL GROUP OF FANS KNOWN AS "TAILGATERS" EAT, DRINK AND MAKE MERRY FROM THE BACKS OF CARS, TRUCKS AND CAMPERS. ALTHOUGH THEY WOULD LIKE A KU VICTORY, THE TAILGATERS HAVE ACTUALLY GATHERED FOR:
Food and drink are requisites for tailgating in the parking lots around Memorial Stadium, Jay Hixon, Jennie Feltz, Don Feltz and Sherril Hixon, all KU alumni, didn't let a drizzle stick their candeliety lunch Saturday.
Discouraged by a dismal performance by the Jayhawk football team and a drizzly day, tailgaters pack their belongings and head home. Most tailgates have a short drive home to the Kansas City area, although some face drives of 150 miles or more.
Story by Dave Toplikar Photos by Eli Reichman
melinda rhod, Shawnee freshman, joins her parents, regular tailgaters, for pregame meals.