Hats off to Bucketheads on their 25th anniversary
They were loud, boisterous, raucous.
And when the Brock Badgers defeated the Saint Mary’s Huskies 77-71 for their first-ever men’s university basketball national championship in 1991-92, it was the Bucketheads who pushed them on and garnered national attention.
To honour the 25th anniversary of that title, Brock will host a Retro Night tonight during the final home games of the regular season for the men’s and women’s teams at Bob Davis Gymasium.
Highlighting the flashback will be the re-introduction of the Bucketheads, a phenomenon launched by passionate student fans during the Badgers’ playoff run that year. The group grew to more than 300, and were soon joined by faculty, staff, community members and even Brock’s president at the time, Terry White.
Tools of the trade were white plastic buckets, some they drummed on loudly during games. Most, as the name suggests, became the group’s distinctive headgear.
If energy of the Bucketheads was infectious, their noise level was deafening. Fans and the media described home games that year as an electric atmosphere in which Bob Davis Gymnasium was packed to capacity, or perhaps a little beyond.
When the Badgers travelled to Halifax that spring to play in the national championship, a throng of Bucketheads followed them, all the way to the title.
The legacy lives on, with modernday supporters calling themselves the Best Fans in Canada, and they are not shy about making their presence heard at home games as well as on the road.
The next generation of Bucketheads, wearing replica buckets, will be in the stands Friday night as the Badgers women’s and men’s teams host the Algoma Thunder birds 6 and 8 p.m., tipoffs, respectively.
The Brock men come into the game atop the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Central Division. The Badgers are riding a seven-game winning streak while Thunderbirds, 4-12, last in the west; have lost three in a row.
Brock women’s team is second in the Central Division with a 7-9 record and on a three-game winning streak. Algoma, 2-14, last in the west; takes the court tonight in St. Catharines hoping to rebound from a loss in its last game.
The regular season for the Badgers wraps up on the road with doubleheaders against the Western Mustangs, next Wednesday; and the Windsor Lancers, Saturday, Feb. 18.