|  |  | |  |   | | | Lefty's Loonies, Fools for Christ
 A Georgia State University basketball player sinks a three-point shot, and immediately a group of students bursts into boisterous applause. One sports a green, foam cowboy hat that takes up the width of two seats. Another wears a shiny black cape and a mask, while the rest sport a bizarre collection of thrift-store reject items. They hoot. They scream. They cackle. They rave, point and jeer. They jump up and down, and they slam dance. They are Lefty's Loonies, and they are disciples in the Atlanta Church of Christ campus ministry.
Lefty's Loonies are a group of sixteen Georgia State students who are obsessively devoted to the Georgia State University men's basketball team. They show up for every game-and boy, do they show up! Their outfits are outrageous, their cheers deafening, and their spirit infectious.
Georgia State University (GSU) is an urban university with a largely commuter student population. Such schools do not typically boast a strong sense of school spirit, but at Georgia State, Lefty's Loonies have changed that. In 1997, Matt Roberson, a student at GSU, was inspired by the legendary antics of Duke University's basketball fans, the Cameron Crazies. He convinced several friends in the campus ministry to start a fan club in support of Georgia State's men's basketball team. They would show up to every game and make their presence known, naming themselves in honor of the team's new head coach, Lefty Driesell.
At the time, the GSU basketball team had not yet provided a great deal of success to cheer about. But as Lefty Driesell installed his new program at GSU in 1997, with the four Loonies cheering him on, the Panthers' luck began to change. Over the next few years their record steadily improved, and the Loonies' spirit began to catch on. Although the Loonies began with only four people, by 1998 they had attracted several new members, and were becoming a fixture in GSU basketball. The other basketball fans fed off the Loonies' zeal, and the players loved them. Coach Driesell bought them Loonies' T-shirts to wear to games, and installed bleachers behind one of the goals, designating it the Loonies' cheering area. In 1998 the devoted basketball fans launched the Loonies' unique thrift-store-superhero-insane asylum costumes, now a Loonies trademark.
Last year, Coach Driesell brought six of the Loonies to Jacksonville, Florida to watch the team compete in the Trans-American Athletic Conference tournament, and paid for them to stay in the same hotel as the team.
But the 2000-2001 season was even more special. GSU finished its second season in a row undefeated at home. Not only did the Panthers take the TAAC tournament title for the first time in team history, but Georgia State won a berth in the NCAA tournament. The Loonies were ecstatic, and determined that no matter where the Panthers were slotted to play, they would find a way to go and cheer their team on. When word came back that the Panthers were to play in Boise, Idaho, some 2,000 miles from Atlanta, the Loonies wondered if they would all be able to travel after all. But when Lefty Driesell and the Atlanta community heard that the Loonies might not be able to go, they began pitching in to help. A friend in the church found them several free airplane tickets, but could not get enough for all the Loonies. John Collins, a GSU sophomore and two-year member of the Loonies, called Atlanta's top AM sports radio station, 790 The Zone, and explained the Loonies' plight. The station chartered two vans to drive the Loonies to Idaho, and sponsored a $500 grocery spree to give them food for the weekend. Two drivers volunteered to drive the Loonies for free, and United Parcel Service offered to provide all the gas for the trip. The Georgia State basketball program and Alumni Association promised the Loonies tickets to all the games and hotel accomodations in Boise. The Loonies were going to Idaho.
And they went in style. The radios station, 790 the Zone, held a pep rally to send them off, attended by the basketball team, Coach Driesell, and representatives from all the local news stations. As the Loonies drove the 34 hours to Boise, 790 The Zone periodically called them and aired live updates on the Loonies' trip.
When the Loonies showed up at Georgia State's first game, decked out in their usual splendor and cheering like-well, loonies-they caught the eye of every person in the crowd. Although the crowd seemed a bit surprised by their absurd outfits and obtrusive cheering, the Loonies quickly won them over. The Loonies ran around the stadium, stirring the crowd to its feet. By the game's end, the 16 Loonies had converted most of the 15,000-member crowd to enthusiastic support of Georgia State, creating a virtual home-court advantage in Idaho. That night, the eleventh-seeded Panthers accomplished what many said was impossible, toppling the sixth-seeded University of Wisconsin (a Final Four team in 2000) in an astonishing last-second, one-point victory. The crowd exploded in celebration, perhaps just as happy for the Loonies as for the GSU players!
The next day, the Boise newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, displayed a large front-page picture, not of basketball players, but of the Loonies, also featuring them in its story covering the Panthers'victory. Overnight, they had become a sensation. During the next few days of the tournament, they were followed everywhere by the media and other basketball fans. People asked for their pictures and autographs, and followed their lead in cheering at the other tournament games. CBS and Fox 5, an Atlanta television station, filmed the Loonies for news features, even covering their pre-game preparations in their hotel. Coach Driesell invited some of the Loonies to fly back to Atlanta with the players on the team plane, and several weeks later they were guests at the team's awards dinner.
Lefty's Loonies left quite a mark on the NCAA tournament, Georgia State basketball, and the entire city of Atlanta. Their name had become a household word and their story a proud one for Atlanta.
As fun and exciting as the experience was, the Loonies' favorite part of their role has been the spiritual impact that they have had at Georgia State. Their outstanding reputation has earned them the friendship and respect of many influential people at Georgia State. The Loonies are friends with Coach Driesell, one of the most recognized and lauded coaches in the NCAA. They have the continual support of the Alumni Association, which threw them a party at the season's end. The school's high-level administrators have also upheld the Loonies as campus leaders and have been strongly supportive of their endeavors. And the Loonies have won the respect and affection of the student body as well. Students view them as campus celebrities and as the leaders of school spirit. Students want to join the Loonies, and are amazed when they learn that the Loonies' zeal and zaniness are not aided by alcohol. The Loonies' stellar reputation has given them many opportunities to share their faith, and already this year the group has aided in converting a GSU freshman. The Loonies provide powerful proof that Christians can have fun and be a significant part of campus life, even as they live a righteous life. In seasons to come, the group will only grow in numbers and in impact as it reaches more and more people, converting them to become fools for Georgia State basketball... and for Christ. | | |
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