THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 1, 1997 TAG: 9701010457
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: 56 lines
For the volume, enthusiasm and free spending habits of its football fans, Virginia Tech travels well, the big bowl people say. The thing is, it's not always a lovely sight.
Hokie nut Mike Schroder, for example. By day, Schroder, 26, is a respected member of Virginia Tech's administration, the assistant director of program development for continuing education, in fact.
On game day, though, Schroder becomes a shirtless, wigged-out yahoo with orange paint on his face, his beer gut and his back, not to mention a maroon and orange Cat-in-the-Hat hat on his head.
And for the Orange Bowl, Schroder added a particularly chic item - an orange and white grass skirt, the better to incite the Hokie faithful in the seats and, oh yes, get his mug on TV.
As garish evidence of the Hokies' loyal following, Schroder has attended every Tech outing this season except the Syracuse game. Which, of course, is the only game Tech has lost in its last 21.
That day he and his wife, Beth, had to go to a wedding. ``They should have known not to schedule the wedding that day,'' Schroder said of the betrothed.
Schroder won't let it happen again. Until further notice, Schroder says he plans to be there, nearly naked, draped with his scraggly Alice Cooper wig, whenever the Hokies play, even if the wind-chill factor is, like, 12 degrees.
It was just that frosty in Blacksburg on Nov. 9 when the Hokies pasted East Carolina. But every time Schroder tried to cover up, the fans around him in section 16 behind the Tech bench booed him into staying bare.
``I went home,'' Schroder said, ``and drank a bottle of Nyquil.''
Trapped by his schtick. But for Schroder, there would be worse ways to go.
``Mike is what Tech spirit is all about,'' says his friend Bryan Rowland, 29, also a Tech administrator. ``He likes to celebrate the success of the team and have a good time with friends.''
Schroder is part of nearly 16,000 known Hokie fans who bought Orange Bowl tickets for up to $75 in advance. There's no telling how many bought at the gate, but there were probably three times as many Tech people than Nebraskans in Pro Player Stadium on Tuesday.
``When we were 3-8, we still had a big following,'' said Schroder, who organized the Orange Bowl trip for 10 people and drove from Virginia in a rented van. ``Now, it's great to be on top. Even the fans that were skeptical are believing.''
And the true believers who risk pneumonia weekly in the holy name of the Hokies? They number all of one.
``I've tried to get others to do it, but they won't,'' Schroder said at his tailgate party before the game, grinning, as a buddy slathered paint on Schroder's arms. ``It would be great if we could get 200 or 300 in each section.''
The barer, the better. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, The Virginian-Pilot
With wig, hat, grass skirt and a TV network on his stomach, Mike
Schroder stood a pretty fair chance of being noticed.