In 2009, Sean Kramer sat at work in Auburn, Wash., just trying to relax.
Colton Clark
His beloved Washington Huskies were in the midst of a 15-game losing streak — then the nation’s longest — and Robb Akey’s Idaho Vandals were in town.
Three hours later, UW finally had a win.
Fast forward a few months down the road when Idaho notched its second ever bowl victory. Kramer listened to it as it happened. After Vandals wideout Preston Davis snagged a two-point conversion reception for the win, Idaho was fully on his radar.
So when he was pitched UI at Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington by former student media adviser Shawn O’Neal, Kramer said he already had an inkling.
“Once I became a student, I absorbed Vandal culture … Once you arrive, it instantly becomes your home and a part of who you are,” Kramer said.
Kramer’s Idaho pride has only broadened since. He graduated in 2014 with a degree in journalism, ended up covering Idaho athletics for the Spokesman-Review, and now, from Seattle, operates the preeminent Vandals fan website and page, “Tubs at the Club.”
On it, Kramer offers questions to fans, assesses athletics and provides valuable intel on athletes. After a quick look at the Twitter account’s content, fans can be sure of one thing –– Kramer is adamant in his support.
Kramer’s story goes to show every Idaho fan follows a different path to devotion. Most, like him, are graduates, but obviously, some latch on through family or geographic connections.
Everyone has their own opinions and recommendations, many of them valid.
Idaho athletics are currently at a “crossroads” of sorts, according to several supporters. With the Rob Spear predicament, budget deficit and of course, the impending FBS to FCS drop, fans have been challenged lately, to say the least.
But according to some of the school’s most fervent sports advocates, there is still plenty to be proud of, including several blooming programs, a storied history and a promising future.
A new basketball stadium is in the works, several programs are perched atop the conference and the athletic department offers somewhat of a fan-athletics network.
“I think (the athletics department) purports to be a family and I’ve seen that a lot,” said Silver Valley native Doug Jacobs, a devout Idaho fan, former Latah County Vandal Boosters president and current security officer at the Bruce Pittman Center. “You get kind of a one-on-one view of what’s going on with the teams, coaches and support systems they have there when you follow them all the way to a tourney.”
The notion rings true for 1999 graduate and Corner Club owner Marc Trivelpiece. His establishment is adorned with Vandals regalia and the majority of it was given to him by the players themselves.
He often speaks over the phone with former running back and current New Orleans Saints running backs coach, Joel Thomas, and considering the bar’s prevalence, he’s personally familiar with many current and former athletes and coaches.
“There’s been a lot. Sometimes I’ll get phone calls from old athletes looking to catch up with locals,” Trivelpiece said. “John Friesz just called recently to check up on Francis, a guy who used to hang out here.”
Finding a fit as a fan and hanging on — even through the onerous times — is perhaps the most important word of wisdom offered by each of these Vandal buffs.
“Don’t be a stranger to UI,” Jacobs said. “I’d pass that on to the kids coming out and the ones already here. Support athletics.”
Jacobs has had season tickets to women’s basketball games for decades, and follows the team to the conference championship every season. It’s a bit more difficult for Trivelpiece, considering his longtime campus-wide connections, but football is his go-to.
Idaho’s thrilling takedown of Boise State in 1998 — the Vandals’ most recent football win over the Broncos — and the 2009 Humanitarian Bowl bring back fond memories. Trivelpiece has also met NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer and held safety Shilo Keo’s Super Bowl ring earned in 2016.
For Kramer, it’s a bit of everything, considering his three-year experience covering every sport on campus, but he does agree with the sentiment.
“Find a program that fits who you are,” Kramer said. “There was a group which really got into women’s soccer; they called themselves the ‘Vandalizers.’ They had chants, waved flags and sang songs … That was their sport.”
However, football decidedly has the strongest pull — it’s also become the most polarizing sport recently.
Jacobs, on one hand, said he regrets the initial decision Idaho made to move up to Division I-A at the start of the 1996 season. While he was president of the local boosters, he heard the opinions of both the proponents and opposition of leaving the FBS. According to Jacobs, he’s ambivalent about the drop, he felt it would happen eventually, but dislikes the fissure it’s caused in the fanbase.
“I have a ‘wait and see’ attitude,” Jacobs said. “If we can compete at that level the Big Sky needs us to compete at, we’ll be fine. I think most of this will be water under the bridge.”
Both Kramer and Trivelpiece said the decision could have been considered longer and more carefully before being made. They feel it was rushed and could have been handled better by UI President Chuck Staben.
“I think, Staben, his rationale was that the Big Sky had a deadline –– we had to agree or they may pull their offer,” Kramer said. “That’s false. There’s no rational way to think the Big Sky wouldn’t want the football program … there’s no other school that has the resources that’d jump or move to the Big Sky.”
Either way, there’s a common denominator — the athletes deserve and need the support. Each fan advises supporters, regardless of their position, to continue backing every program through thick and thin.
“The times when we’ve struggled as fans make the times that we’re successful that much better,” Trivelpiece said. “It means more if you have to work for something and Vandal athletics have had to work for everything they’ve had, so it feels sweeter when we win.”
Colton Clark can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @coltonclark95