The Fans Who Won’t Sit

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When you walk into Miller Gymnasium or Stoffer Family Stadium, you can’t miss Matt Peters. He’s standing there with a giant “G” painted on his chest cheering his voice hoarse. He loves his Bruins. Loves them so much that he has stood for every second of every game he’s attended.

His enthusiasm is infectious. He’s the superfan. The most excited fan. The fan who won’t sit down.

Matt is a sophomore chemistry major and a coaching minor. He’s also a peer advisor to freshmen on campus and co-hosts a radio show for KFOX on Thursday nights from 8 to 10 p.m.It all began last year when Matt was a freshman. He planted himself in the front row at football games and quickly caught the eye of a soon-to-be-graduating superfan, Austin O’Neal. When basketball season began, he stood in the stands proudly bearing the George Fox logo on his chest and waving around a giant sign of an athlete’s face. O’Neal knew he had found his successor.


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Says Peters, “I was already happy being in the stands, and I thought it would be a lot of responsibility actually having to lead the crowd. But he approached me and said, ‘You should do this. I think you’d be really good.’ He chose me.” O’Neal passed down the helmet and cape during a lightsaber knighting ceremony last year. From then on, it was a matter of practice, time management and unbridled enthusiasm.

This tradition of standing at every game began before his time at George Fox. During high school, Peters would rally his friends and stand with the crowd to cheer on his school’s team. He played basketball in high school and wanted to cheer on as many other sports as he could. As he explained it, it was a part of the culture. “We always stood. I just can’t see it any other way.” It may not be the practice at every high school or college, but it’s already spreading through the George Fox campus.


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He’s joined this year by fellow chest-painting-always-standing sophomore exercise science major Jalen Hall and freshman athletic training and exercise science major Luke Suminski. They’re joined by dozens of other students who have opted to stand and cheer rather than sit and watch.

Suminski was an athlete in high school and remembers that having people encouraging and yelling in the stands always pushed him to work harder. He says, “I just love getting pumped for our school. Since we’re all Bruins, we should support our Bruins in their athletics. We always can have more fans cheering and getting more excited.”

That True Blue Bruin pride is contagious and spreading through campus. The superfan crew is always ready for more to join their ranks. Grab some face paint, don your Bruin gear, and meet them at the next game.


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