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Krazy George: I am the World's Sexiest Cheerleader (continued)

Gameops.com: How did you make the transition from amateur to professional sports?

Krazy George: Lamar Hunt saw me at an Earthquakes Soccer Game and invited me to do the Dallas Tornado Soccer Team. I got such a great reaction, he brought me to a Kansas City Chiefs Football Game and then offered me a full time contract for the Chiefs. At the same time, a new hockey team in Denver, the Rockies, hired me full time and the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League also hired me full time, forcing me to resign from teaching and I became the first professional cheerleader. I haven't looked back since. The year was 1976.

Gameops.com: You're known for your ability to single-handedly fire up an entire stadium of fans. What gets you fired up?

Krazy George: Two things really get me going. One is anyone, other than me, who claims to have invented The Wave; and the other is being beat out year after year in People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive Contest. Have these people never seen me?

Gameops.com: Besides the WAVE, what are the moments in your career that stand out in your memory?

Krazy George: Although the WAVE is what I am known for, I love the moment when I get the first back and forth cheer going across the stadium pitting one side against the other in a competition on who can be louder. It really brings the crowd together.

Here are a few other moments that pop into my mind:

After doing the first Edmonton Oilers Hockey Game and bursting into the locker room, Wayne Gretsky invited me to have dinner with the team because he was so impressed with the crowd reaction.
Chuck Knoll, coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, was quoted in the newspapers the day following their game against the Houston Oilers that the noise was so loud that his quarterback Terry Bradshaw couldn't call audibles. He wanted me banned from football. He said if he couldn't get me banned he wanted someone like me to do the same thing for them.
Hang-gliding into a football game and crashing into the goal posts but unfortunately for the opposing team, they were standing under the goal posts. Big mistake!
Coming into a soccer game with a full grown lion and his trainer. The lion attacks the trainer midfield and from under the lion, I hear the trainer yell, "Get him off me!"

Gameops.com: Who are the heroes that have inspired you to do what you do?

Krazy George: I kind of just fell into this job. There were no role models. I was just having fun and I still am.

Gameops.com: A lot of people are nay-sayers and state the WAVE is passe, distracts from the game and shouldn't be done anymore. What is your comment on that?

Krazy George: Well first, it's not a lot of people. It's a lot of the sport's media. Let me say it this way. The WAVE is still done at the start and the finishing ceremonies of the Olympics, World Cup Soccer Games and numerous sporting events around the U.S and the world. For a WAVE to go, it takes 95% of the fans participating. That means 95% of the fans must like the WAVE. The problem is that 95% of the sport's media, when they write or talk about it, don't like the WAVE. The only conclusion I can draw is that most of the sport's media are not fans of sports, they are critics of sports. Much to the chagrin of most of the media, 50 to 100 years from now, fans will continue to have spontaneous WAVES and they will still write it is an abomination to true sport's fans.

Gameops.com: Do you feel you have another legacy aside from the WAVE and being the first professional cheerleader?

Krazy George: The Houston Oilers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Kansas City Chiefs, the New Orleans Saints and the Oakland As, are examples of teams where I was a regular from two to four years cheering for them. They became known for their crowd reaction even though I am no longer there.

I am also proud of the fact that I brought to pro games a college atmosphere. Most teams I worked with appreciated the fact that the fans left the game feeling good whether they won or lost because they had fun, participated and felt they were a part of the game. My cheers involve the whole stadium. If there were 30,000 people there, 30,000 people would be cheering at the same time.

Gameops.com: Have you considered passing your secrets of success onto a new generation in the form of a protege? If so, what qualities must this young person possess?

Krazy George: This question has been asked many times about why I don't train people to do what I do and I've given it some thought. It breaks down into five categories.

First, you have to have energy and there's lots of people with energy.
Second, they should love sports and there are a lot of people who love sports and have energy.
The third is the timing and that can probably be taught.
The fourth is they need a way to have the crowd focus on them. I could probably teach someone to use the drum as I do. So up to this point I could probably train someone else to do it.
But the last thing, which eliminates nearly everybody is they have to have incredible good looks and amazingly beautiful legs. Let's face it! Nobody has the face and legs I have!

That's why in the off season I can always pursue my second career as a professional male model. I love this last question because I love saying, "professional male model." Eat your heart out Fabio!

Thanks to Jon Terry and Krazy George for their time and help with this interview. I actually recall George performing for the Minnesota Vikings when I was younger and always admired his energy and ability to engage a crowd.

Editor's Note: I want to start by saying I will not engage anyone with "Wave debate." I spent a lot of time working on a story years ago regarding the wave and the claims of George and the University of Washington. After hours of time and several conversations with people in the Athletic Department at UW, I was left with this: They see their claim as an urban legend that they are happy to reinforce. However they stopped short of explaining how Oct 31, 1981 (which is the date they claim they "invented" the wave) came before Oct 15, 1981 (the day George has video of a wave he started in Oakland).

I point this out because I (literally) had threats of physical harm from UW fans after we posted our story. To be honest I don't have the time or energy to debate it, especially when the UW Athletic Department treats it with a wink and a nod. Any and all emails, posts, or letters will be ignored on the subject. Of course any additional threats will be treated the same way they were in the past; with a prompt forward to law enforcement.

I wish I was joking that I actually get threats about this, it is true and a horribly bad reflection of some UW fans.

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Krazy George: I am the World's Sexiest Cheerleader (continued)