After 15 years of waving the flag, Wazzu gets ‘GameDay’

Long before the sun rises over the rolling hills of the Palouse, the fans in crimson and gray will make their pilgrimage. They’ll come stumbling out of RVs parked the night before in nearby lots. They’ll walk through campus past the Bryan Clock Tower or make the hike up College Hill

They’ll don jerseys bearing the names Leaf, Thompson, Bledsoe, Gleason and they’ll display the number “3” in memory of quarterback Tyler Hilinski. They’ll carry signs disparaging Dawgs to the West and Ducks to the South. They’ll celebrate the “Popcorn Guy” and the “Fireball Chugger.”

And flags. Oh, will there ever be flags. Crimson. White. Gray. Black. All with the unmistakable Cougars logo. And the most famous of those flags — Ol’ Crimson — will be front and center.

ESPN’s “College GameDay” is coming to Pullman on Saturday ahead of No. 25 Washington State’s Pac-12 showdown with No. 12 Oregon and it could be unlike any setting ever for college football’s version of Woodstock.

“We’re going to try and set some records this weekend,” Washington State athletic director Pat Chun said.

After 15 years of the Washington State flag being a backdrop fixture for every “College GameDay” broadcast — from Tempe to Tallahassee, Boise to Blacksburg — Ol’ Crimson will finally come home when the broadcast goes live in the early morning hours from the intersection of Cougar Way and Ferdinand’s Lane in the shadow of Martin Stadium.

That’s 34 states, 72 cities leading to this moment.

“When we go to a place that we’ve never been to, it’s guaranteed to be electric,” said Lee Fitting, ESPN’s vice president of production. “Starting the show in the dark is cool. I just picture a dark fall morning, there could be some mist or fog and thousands of flags sort of dimly lit. It’s going to be a really cool on-air moment.”

The show’s trip to Pullman is the realization of a dream for many: For the founders of Ol’ Crimson who created a movement that made sure the flag was flying at every broadcast since October 2003 and for Washington State fans who have made getting the show to the campus a collective mission.

“Even though I was the first one to start it and keep it going, I’m still amazed that something I thought of 15 years ago, did 15 years ago, would have this kind of effect,” said Tom Pounds, who started the tradition of flying the flag in 2003. “It still amazes me.”

What began as an attempt to draw attention to the school and lure the show to Pullman carries far deeper meaning for Washington State students, alums and fans. Ol’ Crimson flying in the background of each of the past 216 GameDay broadcasts is a public representation of the bond created by being a Coug. It’s not easily explained. Washington State is defined by its remoteness. Dealing with isolation at the school some 290 miles east of Seattle is part of the curriculum. Pullman is not a destination location, yet it becomes the foundation for a relationship between the students, the campus and the community that spans generations and creates inseparable bonds.