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CHAMPAIGN — Glorious tailgating weather? Check.
Large crowd, including a stuffed student section? Check.
Convincing win by the home team to kick off a season of great expectations? Check.
Friday night had it all, both inside and outside Memorial Stadium — from the Marching Illini serenading Bruce Weber’s 2005 basketball runner-up to Luke Altmyer and the 12th-ranked Illini football team routing Western Illinois, 52-3, and everything in between.
“It’s exciting that the team is now at a point where it’s as good as the (tailgate) atmosphere,” said fan, alum and avid tailgater Todd Johnson. “I think we have the right pieces in place where we’ve got a hot team now.”
The good times started well before Friday’s 6:30 p.m. kickoff, as they have for 20 years for Johnson and his family, who have committed to the phrase “we ride at dawn” on home game days.
Johnson and wife Gail woke up before sunrise Friday, and double- and triple-checked their pre-packed trailer for hot dog supplies, sunscreen, cornhole boards and bags, even a custom porta-potty.
The season opener is a reunion of sorts for the Johnsons and those who’ve tailgated nearby for years. “We don’t know everyone’s names, but they’re our family,” he said. “If my generator’s running out of gas, (our neighbors) will loan me gas.”
Johnson’s sister, Kris Stipp, regularly drives down from Chicago on game days. Every year, the siblings host a tailgate-wide chili cookoff later in the season, drawing up to 100 people. The 14-year tradition will continue on Oct. 11, when the Illini host defending national champion Ohio State.
People don’t just travel to campus from all over Illinois; Johnson’s tailgating neighbors, Tim and Kathy Fritz, have made the six-and-a-half-hour trek from Minnesota, for nearly every game, for 45 years.
The husband and wife share the same sentimental family connection that so many others do. Tim (Class of ‘80) said family and friends are the main draw for tailgating, but the football game draws them together.
“We’ll just hang out all day and have lots of people stop by,” Kathy said while playing cards. “It’s so exciting now to be at the beginning of the season. I can’t believe it’s here already.”
Longtime Illini fan Gary Hrvol grew up in the Mattoon area and was hooked 50 years ago.
Cooking a grill full of hot dogs, the relatively new tailgater of five years said this year may look to be the most exciting team he’s seen. He and his family plan to attend 11 of the team’s 12 games.
“We want to see a bunch of wins,” Hrvol said. “We want to go to the playoffs and host that game.”
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