THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 19, 1995 TAG: 9511190613
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
The man with the turkey on his head arrived late to the Hill.
It was just after kickoff Saturday at Scott Stadium when Will Graeter gave a scalper $20 to get in and made his way to the steep, grassy incline behind the north end zone and plopped down beside friends.
Did I mention he was wearing a turkey? A styrofoam turkey decoy, actually, hollowed out into a hat in honor of his alma mater, Virginia Tech. The Gobblers, you know.
``You do what you gotta do,'' said Graeter, 25, as his fake fowl drew fire - ice cubes, little liquor bottles, invective - from Virginia fans perched higher up on the Hill.
Thunk.
Graeter shrugged.
``I can take it.''
And he did. Until the very end, that is, when Tech stormed back to beat Virginia and fists started to fly on the Hill, and Graeter figured why push it and slipped his headwear under cover.
Before then, it had been a fun, fairly incident-free day on the Hill, where Hokies and 'Hoos by the hundreds crammed in and co-existed as a great football game unfolded.
``It's calm on the hillside today,'' Joe Fyrer, a ruddy-faced 51-year-old usher, said after halftime as he scanned the turf he's patrolled for 14 seasons. ``We've only had to carry one out today. I believe she was in-e-briated.''
Believe it; taking in a big Virginia game on the Hill can be an adventure.
It's a bleacher-less area of grass, dirt and mud that runs from field level up to the main concourse, populated mostly by the young. The acreage used to be smaller by about half. But when Virginia replaced its artificial field surface with grass before this season, the fence and hedges at the base of the Hill were replaced by a raised landing built to facilitate drainage.
It is open to anybody with any type of ticket, squatter's rights, and even gives fans passive or active spectating choices.
Passive can involve spreading a blanket up by the scoreboard, grabbing a jumbo Coke and settling down for a tunnel-like view between the goalposts of the offensive line play, the way Tech fan Enrique Morales likes to do.
Morales, a native Mexican, played the line at the University of Mexico in the '60s. He always does the Hill at Scott. Wouldn't dream of sitting anywhere else, even though it can get wet and windy and cold up there.
``If I wanted to be warm, I'd stay home and watch it on TV,'' Morales said.
Makes sense. Which is more than I can say for Roy Mohler, the active sort who lucked out in his first attempt at a favorite Hill hobby - catching an extra-point kick and running around the bottom of the Hill until you're ground into the dirt by tacklers.
Picture a bouquet toss, only with slobbering men lunging en masse at a football in what looks like a cross between a rugby scrum and a mosh pit. But after one kick, somehow there was Mohler above the fray, making a clean catch - and taking two steps before about 25 people dived on top of him.
Once he wriggled free, Fyrer the usher was upon him, grabbing for the ball.
``The guy said, `Give me the ball or you're going to jail,' '' Mohler, 21, said later, standing up the Hill with a few buddies, all of whom were wearing ties ``so we look like we go to Virginia.''
``The kids like catching the kicks. I just worry about somebody getting hurt,'' said Fyrer, whose combat duty includes reclaiming the footballs. ``We haven't lost any. The police say if they go out the gate with one, charge them with theft.''
This was a good day, though, especially for the size of the gathering. The kind of day that keeps bringing Fyrer back. No bones were broken, large ones anyway. No cup fights like that notorious battle so embedded in Fyrer's mind, the 1990 Clemson game.
And no charges were pressed, though I saw something that looked suspiciously like assault and more than a wee bit of public drunkenness. But hey, that's life beyond the north end zone.
Or as a guy with guts enough to wear a turkey hat into enemy territory might say, if you can't stand the heat, stay off the Hill. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Excited fans crowd the Hill at the end of the nail-biter. The grassy
slope behind the north end zone has no assigned seats and little
decorum, especially at a thriller such as this one.
Virginia Tech students Stacey Coleman, left, and Becky Wise cheer
their Hokies in the first half.
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/The Virginian-Pilot
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Tech fans, above, tried but couldn't bring down Scott Stadium's
goalposts after the game. Joe Crocker, left, celebrates Ronde
Barber's interception, which gave the U.Va. secondary 28 consecutive
games in which they have picked off a pass.
by CNB