Ruff Riders invade Spokane

By Jeremy Herb

SPOKANE, Wash. -- While most Santa Clara students were stressing over midterms and projects towards the end of winter quarter, 38 found the perfect diversion.

In Spokane, no less.

From Mar. 2-6, the Ruff Riders organized a trip for 20 members and 18 cheerleaders to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., for the WCC basketball tournament.

The tournament trip also placed an exclamation point on the tenure of Ruff Riders Co-Presidents Mike Zozos and Ross Nelson, who have helped the club grow to over 3,100 members this year, double the size of when they took over.

"The turnout was great, the people that we had were amazing and we just had a ball," Zozos said. "It's just something Ruff Riders should do -- travel, follow their teams and have it be more of a social aspect, as well."

The idea for the trip arose from a questionnaire that was passed out before the Broncos game against Gonzaga in early January, where approximately 100 people expressed interest in going to Spokane.

Based on this, the Ruff Riders estimated they could probably get close to 50 to Spokane, but, even though they didn't take that many, no one on the trip was complaining.

"This experience is something I'll probably remember for the rest of my life, so I think it's well worth it," senior Greg Kosich said.

The trip cost $265 per person and included airfare, lodging at a hotel near the arena, and tickets to all of Santa Clara's games.

With little extra supervision, Zozos and Nelson had the task of making sure everyone was relatively well behaved while in Spokane as the Ruff Riders were representing the university. Zozos said the trip went "smoothly," and reported no serious problems.

"They gave us the complete package," said A.J. Perry, a member of the Ruff Riders Executive Council. "It was well organized and we had the freedom to do what we wanted."

The main reason for the trip, of course, was to watch basketball and cheer on the Broncos. Once on Gonzaga's home court, the McCarthey Center, Santa Clara's student section was the largest at the tournament besides Gonzaga's Kennel Club, and it was arguably the loudest.

"It got loud at games with our hardcore posse of Ruff Riders," said senior Colin Wood. "We had the elite of loudness going on."

The Broncos on the court took notice, too.

"I thought the Ruff Riders were outstanding," men's head coach Dick Davey said. "I had one or two guys comment after the Portland game, saying how involved they were."

Davey's sentiments echo how the club has evolved. When Nelson and Zozos took over the Ruff Riders, the events now associated with the organization, in addition to Bronco games -- the Bronco Bash, barbecues, bus trips to away games -- occurred with much less frequency.

Nelson said that he thinks these extra activities have been instrumental in helping the club grow and have helped increase overall student attendance at games.

"I don't think it had as much heart and soul (under the previous presidents)," Nelson said. "The last guys were awesome, the two other presidents were great guys, but I don't know if they put in as much effort as the Ruff Rider Executive Council does now.

Zozos said that attendance at men's basketball games has increased from between 200 and 300 students per game to now averaging approximately 500 to 700 Ruff Riders. But the fact that fans are coming out to some of the other sports besides basketball is even more impressive.

"We filled the pool deck for men's water polo, and that's something you'd never see before," Zozos said. "Volleyball has a following now. We were able to get 100 people to the NCAA playoffs at Stanford. At every volleyball match, we had probably about 50 to 100 Ruff Riders, and that's big."

Next year, even though Zozos and Nelson will have graduated, they believe the club will grow even further under next year's president, junior Ian Frost, thanks to a donation by Pepsi to the university's school spirit, which will allow the Ruff Riders to have more giveaways and more trips to Santa Clara games away from campus (see story, page 1).

"I think next year there's going to be a lot more support, it's going to be way better than this year," Nelson said. "We'll get a lot more numbers out to games, a lot more numbers up to Portland (for next year's WCC Tournament), so it only has room to grow."

A.J. Perry, a vice president of the club next year, said that making it "a habit" for Ruff Riders to go to games would help keep attendance up, as well as making sure everyone realizes that they can go to both social events and sporting events in the same night.

While Zozos, who graduated in the winter, no longer has to herd students en masse, he said he won't become a stranger to Leavey or Buck Shaw any time soon.

"I think that my passion for sports has increased. I will be a Bronco for life," he said. "There's so many things -- last basketball games, last volleyball games, last soccer games -- it's a weird feeling, it's surreal. But I will always be a Bronco, and I'm proud to be a representative of Santa Clara."

Contact Jeremy Herb at (408) 551-1918 or jmherb@scu.edu.