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More Than a Game

A day at the stadium is a colorful, emotional ritual

By Neal Hinkle September 2013

Texas Tech cheerleader Allison Rodarte, a freshman from El Paso, fires up the Red Raider faithful.

Neal Hinkle

Texas Tech safety Shawn Corker makes his way from the team bus to the locker room through a fan phalanx during Raider Walk a few hours before kickoff.

Neal Hinkle

Game day is the day to show off all things Tech. Cruising the streets on campus and around the stadium in custom wheels is one way to flaunt the red, black and white.

Neal Hinkle

Tailgaters are everywhere, covering most parking lots and open grassy areas around the 90-year-old campus. Just try escaping the essence of burgers and barbecue sizzling on grills.

Neal Hinkle

Omar Hernandez prefers to keep his tailgating consumables mobile. He’s often seen pregame zipping around on his motorized electric cooler, kind of a bartender on the go.

Neal Hinkle

Deep inside the stadium, Tech students Allencia Wooldridge and Brea Lewis staff one of many souvenir stands selling just about any item you can think of embellished with a double-T.

Neal Hinkle

Gabriel Hemmer and Dylan Nault make sure that everybody entering the stadium through the doors of a souvenir store has a ticket to the game. They also make no bones about their allegiance, flashing inverted ‘Hook ’em’ signs—more defiant than the ubiquitous ‘Guns Up’ hand gestures endemic in Raiderland.

Neal Hinkle

Raider Red—or rather, the student who plays the mascot—puts on his game face long before the players do. The man behind the hirsute mask is public relations major Zach Bohls, a senior this year.

Neal Hinkle

Many of the Tech students who occupy coveted front-row seats camp outside Jones Stadium for days before the game so they can be among the first fans let into the stadium.

Neal Hinkle

A sea of red towers over the Longhorns on the visitors’ sideline.

Neal Hinkle

The Goin’ Band from Raiderland breathlessly engages the crowd with its repertoire of catchy riffs.

Neal Hinkle

Christopher Wong keels over when hope yields to frustration toward the end of the game.

Neal Hinkle

When trash talk in the stands is but an echo, Amanda Campbell, along with her classmates in the Master of Athletic Training program, swoop in to cart off the rubbish left behind. Their custodial work is part of a fundraising effort.

Neal Hinkle

Texas Tech vs. UT. This is the game. The biggie. Marked on Panhandle calendars for months. When the national powerhouse Longhorns traipse into Lubbock, as they did last November 3, typically mild-mannered folks in the Panhandle rouse to a fury.

The passions and strategies on game day cannot be contained by the impeccable turf at Jones AT&T Stadium, and they certainly didn’t wait for the 2:30 p.m. kickoff. A record crowd of 60,879 turned the grounds at Fourth Street and University Avenue into a community larger than about 1,700 towns in the state.

Here’s a glimpse into that community—a day in the life of a college football stadium.

That was my mission: Go to the big game, camera in hand, and photograph everything but the action on the field. Show what makes the place buzz with emotion. Equipped with only a press pass and my trusty Hasselblad, I showed up in Lubbock at 10 a.m., and I wasn’t alone. The fans in the stands and an ABC/ESPN2 television audience saw Texas defeat the Red Raiders 31-22 after not trailing all game. Here’s what I saw.

September 2013 Issue of Texas Coop Power

September 2013

This article appeared in the September 2013 issue

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