‘KRAZY GEORGE’ MARKS ‘THE WAVE’ MILESTONE
Fan interaction traces its roots to San Jose State in the 1970s
Capitola’s George Henderson, 77, a professional cheerleader better known throughout the Greater Bay Area as “Krazy George,” isn’t done getting a rise out of fans. Not surprising, considering he’s the person credited with inventing the “The Wave.”
Henderson, a 1971 San Jose State University alum, said he first got the idea for The Wave when leading a three-section cheer in ’70. The proud owner of a mullet, cutoff jean shorts and a snare drum that commanded fans’ attention, he got one section of fans to stand and yell “San,” followed by the next section, “Jose,” and the final section’s roar, “State.”
Around and around he went, having each section do its part in the cheer. “What about one fluid, circular, wave-like motion in a packed stadium?” he thought.
Stand up and throw your hands in the air, then take a seat.
A decade later, in an American League playoffs game pitting the New York Yankees and host Oakland A’s on Oct. 15, 1981, Henderson unleashed his brainchild on the 47,302 fans packed into Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Fan participation was forever changed.
When SJSU’s football team (3-3, 1-1) celebrates homecoming against No. 24 ranked San Diego State (5-0, 1-0) in the teams’ Mountain West Conference game Friday at 7:30 p.m., Henderson will be on hand, not only celebrate his alma mater, but the 40th anniversary of The Wave.
Henderson is encouraging fans to film themselves doing the wave and share it on social media platforms, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, etc, with the hashtag #40thAnniversaryOfTheWave.
Henderson marvels at The Wave’s staying power.
“It’s something I never really thought about,” he said. “I remember trying to maximize fans’ energy and how people loved it. I never knew it would spread around the world, day by day, month by month. Then I started getting calls from all over the world. This is a world event now.”
The Wave — with Henderson serving as conductor — slowly spread throughout the nation. And then south of the border. When fans performed it at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico City, Mexico, the world was put on alert: They were missing out on some fun.
“Some people still call it the Mexican Wave,” said Henderson, pretending to sound hurt that he lost out on some notoriety. “I can’t fight Mexico.”
Henderson’s charisma, spectator influence and celebrity earned him cheering gigs at stadiums across the nation. And while his star has faded over the past two decades, he’s still a Bay Area icon and Santa Cruz celebrity. (He used to own a sports bar in Aptos.)
Before moving to Capitola a few years back, Henderson and his wife, Patricia Timberg, lived on the East Coast for close to eight years. Henderson said he’d walk the streets of Baltimore and New York in relative anonymity.
He said his return to
Santa Cruz County has been therapeutic.
“Everyone knows me here and I love to see them laugh and smile,” he said. “They’re so happy to meet me and I’m happy to meet them.”
And he’s always quick with a punchline.
One person told me, “I heard you passed away.”
“I did and I came back,” he responded.
His legend is rooted in San Jose.
“In SJSU’s Sports Hall of Fame, you have athletes, coaches and highly regarded administrators … and George Henderson,” said Lawrence Fan, a member of the school’s sports information
department for more than four decades. “That, by itself, is his place in the history of San Jose State.”
Cheers for soccer, too
Henderson still cheers at San Jose Earthquakes’ home soccer matches and SJSU home football games.
“In his own way, he created an industry by himself,” Fan said. “The industry of cheerleading, particularly, by the male gender.”
For the most part, Henderson has maintained his image from yesteryear — though a barber recently removed a large portion of his mullet.
“He buzzed me,” Henderson
said. “I thought about Sampson and wondered if I’d lose all my power. My wife nearly fainted. I didn’t want it this short. I was gonna go down to the recruiting office for the Army.”
Still, he has his drum, his mallet, and trademark cheering uniform, cutoff jean shorts and an SJSU football jersey.
At games, most Spartans alums are quick to stick their camera in his face and ask for selfie with him. But most current SJSU students didn’t know who this quirky, old man was as he invaded their cheering section in the home opener against Southern Utah on
Aug. 28.
“They were looking at me like I was from Mars,” he said. “I was like, ‘Pull out your phone and Google ‘Who invented The Wave?’ Within minutes, I was their best friend. … That game, it was like chaos, just like old times. Every student went nuts.”
Though the game will televised on CBS Sports Network, a large crowd is also expected Friday at CEFCU Stadium.
Big crowd sought
Henderson will show up hours early and wander around. He said he prepares for games with a yawn, waiting for fans to slowly trickle in. His excitement builds with each fan.
“The only thing that depresses me is small crowds,” he said. “If the stadium is two-thirds full, I’m happy.”
Henderson has plenty of tactics to fire up the crowd; The Wave is just one of them. And it’s celebrating a birthday, of sorts. Henderson is the proud papa.
“You know the guy who invented the paper clip?” Henderson said. “Well, he sees a guy put a paper clip on and he smiles. That’s what I do when I see people do it, in the movies or the Royal family do it at Wimbledon …”
Any sporting event, really.
“We’re interconnecting fans to show support for our team,” he said. “We’re creating visual energy and letting it manifest itself. We’re saluting the team.”