School spirit at heart of student club

A new universitywide spirit campaign called “True Blue” takes inspiration from the original UB True Blue, a student club with a reputation for over-the-top enthusiasm.

Their mission is simple: show up at UB Bulls games and let the team — and everyone else — know they’re there by being the loudest fans in the stands.

High-volume chants with a cowbell accompaniment, costumes, flags, signs and other props are all part of their approach — along with an abundance of cheering and general jumping around. Through the years, their hijinks have been featured on major media outlets, including coverage on ESPN’s SportsCenter when a UB True Blue member’s excitement over landing a half-court shot during intermission of a men’s basketball game went viral.

Behind all the hullabaloo is an inclusive and ever-changing group of students with a shared interest in supporting the Bulls while having the most fun possible doing it. And in that process, members say, they make friends, make memories and make the most of their time as students at UB.

From its start more than a decade and a half ago, UB True Blue was about creating a memorable college experience. In 2004, when club founders Paul Hutchings and Jeseph Meyers were first-year students, UB teams didn’t have the fan following they do now.

“As a student just coming in, I saw all the big sports schools and thought, oh, I hope my school has that kind of atmosphere,” said Meyers. “There was a fun basketball environment at the time, but not so much for football. Students would go to the home opener, and then that might be all.”

But in 2006, following the hiring of head coach Turner Gill, excitement for football started brewing. After connecting online on a UB sports fan board, Hutchings and Meyers, then heading into their junior year, decided that the atmosphere on campus needed to match the hype associated with what promised to be a new era in UB football, and that they would do all they could to create it.

They gathered a group of friends, outfitted themselves in blue T-shirts, face paint and wigs, and brought a true fan presence to that first game. “We were in the very front row in the student section,” said Hutchings. “And from there it just became our thing that Jeseph and I, and whoever else we could grab, would go to every single football game. We tailgated and painted our chests, no matter what the weather was. It was our way of telling the team, we’re here for you.”

That momentum carried through to basketball season, when the pair convinced a group of friends to stage a campout before the Bulls took on Pitt, the No. 2-ranked team in the nation at the time.

“We said, hey, let’s pitch tents in the middle of December right in front of Alumni Arena to bring attention to the fact that this big school is coming here,” said Hutchings. “The athletics department probably thought we were crazy, but the team came out and brought us pizza. It created a bond — us coming up with ideas, and the team really appreciating what we were doing. It encouraged us to keep creating activities that students could participate in.”

The following year, they came up with another idea: chartering a couple buses for a road trip to a football game against Penn State, a school famous for its rowdy cheering section.

“We didn’t just want to bring our friends; we wanted any student who was interested to come and experience this,” said Hutchings.

He and Meyers went to the Student Association with a request for one-time funding. They got it, with one stipulation: that they formalize their efforts into an official student club.

So during the first week of their senior year, they rushed to put together a club. The first meeting drew a large crowd of interested participants, as well as many student-athletes.

“Pretty much the entire women’s basketball team showed up, asking for our support. They were working just as hard as any other team but weren’t getting the same attendance by fans,” said Hutchings. “That was an eye-opener for us. We realized we needed to make it about more than football and men’s basketball. We thought, let’s become the driver of school spirit campuswide. Let’s be one big school spirit team.”

And UB True Blue was born.

Today, UB True Blue is billed as the largest student club at UB. Its roster is loose — anyone who wants to take part can, just by signing up and showing up. Current club president Alyssa Gomez said that participation is rebounding from the worst of the pandemic-related disruptions.

“It was tough at first for people to even know what we’re about after a year of not having our presence at games,” said Gomez. “But I was an orientation leader this past summer and got a lot of opportunities to talk about True Blue. I think our follower count went up almost 1,500 people just from orientation alone.”

Students are eager for ways to get involved, connect and have fun — and UB True Blue is a perfect way to reignite campus pride. The sentiment isn’t restricted to hardcore sports fans.

“I’ve always enjoyed watching sports, but for me, it’s more about school spirit,” said Gomez, a senior. “In high school, I didn’t care so much about my school. So coming here to a school that I chose for myself, for my four college years, it was nice to feel something that I never felt before. That’s what makes it special to me. Embodying that spirit, showing myself and others that this is why I’m here.”

Next fall, UB True Blue will celebrate its 15th anniversary. Plans for special events are in the works to entice previous club board members to return to campus, meet current members and, of course, cheer on the Bulls.

Hutchings and Meyers, who still keep in touch with each other, are looking forward to it.

“We were self-motivated in wanting to have a certain kind of college experience, and basically stumbled into creating this club our senior year,” said Meyers. “We put a ton of work into it, and it was a lot of fun, and just as it really got going, it was like, oh, this is it for us.”

“But after graduation, we both stayed close to it, and others have too,” Hutchings said. “So it’s become not only a student club, but also a beacon for bringing back alumni; something that people who were once so involved can always go back to.”

Editor’s note: For more ways to show UB pride and spirit, visit buffalo.edu/trueblue.