Western Michigan tailgaters don't ask 'Where's Waldo?' or 'Where's Elvis?' before Pitt game
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — On an asphalt sidewalk adjacent to the Western Michigan track, a gang of several students was walking away from Waldo Stadium.
They didn’t have to ask, “Where’s Waldo?” They already knew, but they had other pursuits in mind.
“Isn’t there a game tonight? Where are you going?” a visitor from Pittsburgh wanted to know.
“Tailgating?” was the answer from one enthusiastic young lady.
Yes, it happens everywhere, and this campus community is geared for it. Especially so this Saturday night, with a Top 25 team — No. 23 Pitt — on campus to face the Broncos.
Actually, it was a well-behaved, tailgating crowd (far short of what you might see on the North Shore when, say, Kenny Chesney is in town.
“It’s not quite the big-school lining the streets four hours before (kickoff),” said tailgater, Alex Gray, a Western Michigan graduate and Kalamazoo resident.
There was a concert by country western star Chase Bryant nearby, a prelude to the main attraction that was set to start at 7:30 p.m. Surprisingly, good seats were still available in the 30,200, 108-year-old edifice about an hour before kickoff.
Business is booming in and around Kalamazoo, with the manufacture of automotive components, pharmaceutical and medical products, cereals and paper products.
But many outsiders are familiar with Kalamazoo only because of a local legend that is, actually, fake news, but fun to discuss, anyway.
A YouTube rumor arose in 2018 to the ridiculous effect that Elvis Presley faked his death — in 1977, mind you — and is “alive and well and living in Kalamazoo.”
Suffice to say, those students looking for a tailgate party weren’t seeking out Elvis.
“Why would he want to be in Kalamazoo?” said Alam Grewal, a Grand Rapids, Mich., resident enjoying refreshments with Gray and others in the shadow of Waldo.
Of greater importance to Grewal and Gray is the outcome of the game.
Both men predicted Western Michigan would extend its winning streak over Pitt to two games Saturday night.
“The homer in me,” Gray said.
But he did make some sense.
“We won at Pitt last year with Kenny Pickett at the helm. He’s still in the city (of Pittsburgh), one team up.”
Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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