By Mike Pearson
FightingIllini.com

TailGREAT Application

During the decade of the 1980s, University of Illinois fans showed the collegiate football world how to turn an average, cheese-and-crackers type tailgate get-together into a "Gosh, this is FUN!" TailGREAT extravaganza.

After all, as the popular slogan of the day proclaimed, "The 80s Belong to the Illini". It would become readily apparent to all that Illini TailGREAT partiers adapted the catchphrase as a personal challenge.

Though Neale Stoner, then the director of UI's Athletic Association, is generally credited for coming up with the concept of TailGREAT, it was actually his promotions director who originated the idea.

Former Illini wrestling coach Tom Porter was transitioned into promotions work in 1978 by A.D. Cecil Coleman. When Neale Stoner was hired in September of '79, Porter's primary job became filling the empty seats at Illinois football games.

"I grew up as a huge (Chicago) White Sox fan and I really loved the owner, Bill Veeck," Porter said. "I read all of his books ("Veeck as in Wreck" and "The Hustler's Handbook"). During his time with the Sox, Veeck was all about engaging the fans. The White Sox cut holes in the outfield wall at old Comiskey Park and put screens in so that group outings could watch the game and host parties at the same time. "

"Well, we had this great patio space adjacent to the northwest tower (of Memorial Stadium), so I suggested to Stoner that we entertain our donors before and after the game," Porter said. "He just ate that up. We invited four hundred alumni, before and after the game. Mike White would come up after the game to help entertain our best supporters."

Stoner's enthusiasm for Porter's creativity encouraged the now 77-year-old Mahomet resident to generate even more "out of the box" ideas.

"I was nuts and Neale Stoner went along with almost everything we suggested," Porter said.

Porter and his staff surveyed Illini fans for their thoughts and ideas.

"One of the things we found out from the survey was that their parking space was as important to them as their seat location, sometimes more important," he said. "People loved to barbeque and party before the games, so I tried to use that to build fan interest. And that's how TailGREAT was born."

Porter and Stoner chose the 1982 season opener against Northwestern to introduce their new idea and spent several months to plan the affair.

"People got crazy," he said.

There were nearly 100 TailGREAT entries that first year, but none were more creative than Kevin Cramer and Susan Ducey's idea. Spurred on by the grand prize of a trip for eight to Hawaii, the already engaged couple scrapped their original wedding plans and instead exchanged wedding vows on a tennis court adjacent to Memorial Stadium.

Another fan, John Homeier of Springfield, threw a party for about 3,000, flying up live alligators and grilling gator burgers.

Some fans turned their previously passive social gatherings into full-blown musical productions.

"We had a group of local lawyers put on a skit as The Jackson 5," Porter remembered. "People had a lot of fun."

"I think we all were overwhelmed by the success of TailGREAT '82," Stoner told a newspaper reporter. "This is what big-time college football is all about … the excitement and the pageantry."

It was estimated that the original TailGREAT sparked the sales of an additional 15,000 students for the 1982 Illinois-Northwestern game, boosting the attendance to more than 67,000.

TailGREAT grew to epic proportions the following season, encouraging 150 groups to participate. The crowd for the '83 home opener against Stanford drew 72,852 fans, a crowd exceeded in Memorial Stadium history only by the 75,119 that watched UI's 1946 game versus Notre Dame.

The TailGREAT snowball continued to grow in the years that followed.

"Eventually, we put huge corporate tents on the west side of the stadium and that turned into one of the most popular areas," Porter said. "The tents went up and down Florida Avenue. We'd have anywhere from 20 to 30 corporations come to our games. The excitement from TailGREAT started that."

TailGREAT last occurred at Illinois in 1988 but is being brought back in 2019 after a 31-year hiatus.

"In the 15 years I've been associated with Illinois Athletics, there's not a season that goes by where TailGREAT isn't mentioned," Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Fan Engagement Cassie Arner said. "For so many fans the thought of TailGREAT immediately conjures up great memories of Illinois football and their trips to Memorial Stadium. We felt this was a tradition worth reviving."

TailGREAT will return on September 21 as the Illini open the Big Ten Conference season against Nebraska. Fans are encouraged to submit applications here.