Krazy George

Did You Know?

• He appeared in an episode of the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, hired by panelist Robert Donner to improve his rapport with the audience.
• He played a small role in the 1976 cult film The Milpitas Monster.
• He was featured in a tenth-season episode of America's Got Talent, during which his entire act consisted solely of leading the audience in 'the wave'; he was buzzed out by the judges in seconds.

Career

Henderson began cheerleading in 1968 while attending San José State University, where he was also on the judo team. After graduating, he led sectional cheers at local sporting events with a hand drum. In the early 1970s, while teaching at Buchser High School in Santa Clara, California, he was hired by the California Golden Seals of the National Hockey League. At a 1974 game between the Seals and the Boston Bruins, his antics caught the attention of a PR executive from a new soccer franchise in San Jose. The San Jose Earthquakes then invited him to cheer for their inaugural season at $35 per game. Fans averaging over 15,000 per game reacted so boisterously that a formal protest was filed by an opponent after a loss, claiming the crowd noise interfered with preparations for overtime. In 1975, Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, who had seen Henderson at an Earthquakes game against the Dallas Tornado, hired him for one game and then extended his contract through 1979, when the Chiefs lost a bidding war to the Houston Oilers. In 1980, his drum and gravelly voice gained widespread attention, including from NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. After losing 21–16, the Vikings objected that his cheering disrupted their quarterback's signal calling. Vikings general manager Mike Lynn later hired Henderson in 1982. In 1989, the NFL adopted a rule targeting noise-making specialists hired to disrupt play calling, a rule Henderson says was aimed at him.

The wave

The stadium wave is credited to Krazy George, who says he first led it on October 15, 1981, during a Yankees-Athletics playoff game at the Oakland Coliseum. After several failed attempts, the crowd caught on and the wave made a full lap around the stadium. George recalls the venue was packed and the fans were lively, creating perfect conditions. He had tried the wave earlier after noticing a section of fans cheering in a staggered pattern that accidentally produced a wave-like effect, and he also points to a prior instance involving Colorado Rockies fans at McNichols Sports Arena. George later practiced leading the wave at an Edmonton Oilers NHL game in Northlands Coliseum, where Wayne Gretzky met him in the locker room afterward and invited him to dinner.