Sean McDevitt
FightingIllini.com

Tailgating has a long and storied history. At the University of Illinois, it has always been a mainstay. Blessed with perfect grassy fields mere steps away from Memorial Stadium, on game days, these lots are filled with tailgaters eager to start the grill, crack open the ice chest for a cold drink, and throw the pigskin around.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made thousands of Illini fans hit pause on a favorite tradition. And Joe Lamb and his family are among those affected. But the great adjust.

This year Lamb and his tailgate could be found in driveways of a few close friends. A far cry different from when he was hanging out with Dick Butkus, Red Grange, Dike Eddleman, and more.

"It wasn't work. It was fun."

Joe Lamb grew up in Champaign. He's proud of his hometown, claiming there's not a better place in the world. It was here he grew to love Illinois football and the tailgating tradition of his family.

Growing up near Hessel Park, he could easily ride his bike to Memorial Stadium during prime tailgate time. There were no cell phones. You could not get tickets online because the internet didn't exist. However, Joe Lamb's father always had tickets.

"We were lucky enough to have tickets, but you had to meet somewhere to get them," said Lamb. "So, if people were coming to get tickets, they would come to your tailgate. When I was older, I'd take my bike to the other lots. I could get from lot to lot distributing the tickets. It was so much easier, and it wasn't work. It was fun."

Setting up the lot early in the morning was also part of the fun. On Saturday morning, the family would take the motor home to get their preferred spot and set up. Back then, it was easier to get into the lots, and tailgaters never considered TV times. There weren't any 11 am kickoffs when Lamb was growing up.

Lamb said, "We'd unload the key pieces for whatever we're cooking that day, and then we would all go to Tumble Inn, and have coffee. Some would have something a little stronger, and we'd be there for about an hour talking about the game. I remember being nine or ten and going to the Tumble Inn every Saturday morning."

"It's like backstage at a Willie Nelson concert."

The Lamb family tailgate attracted a wide variety of characters, from former Illini legends to legends of music and movies. Even the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

"One of my all-time favorite things to say about our tailgate is that it's like backstage at a Willie Nelson concert," Lamb said. "Fred Cash, who played football for Illinois in the '60s, would come to the lot. He is the only varsity football player who was also Chief Illiniwek. I remember when we were kids, and Ray Bolger showed up one time. It was staggering to somebody that grew up watching The Wizard of Oz."

Before Grange Grove, there was a Street Fest set up along Fourth Street and Kirby on game days. During that time, the Illinois Athletics Departments would have inflatable games, food trucks, and up and coming musical acts for a pre-game show.

"Before they moved us across the street, we would be by the stage for Street Fest. One game, we had a great afternoon with Brett Eldredge before he became a megastar. He was playing on a flatbed right next to our grill. His show ends, he grabs me, hops off the stage, and stays for pork chop sandwiches and beers for an hour and a half with the Juice Williams number seven jersey on. It was a year later, and he was hosting the CMAs. It seems like every year there was something like that where somebody came by, and it was just like how did that happen?"

"There's no club level out there."

While there may be some dispute on the perfect tailgating food, Lamb knows what he's cooking every home game.

"There have been tailgates where I've cooked over two hundred pork chops and over a hundred skinless hotdogs," said Lamb. "So, at our tailgate, there was well over between three and four hundred served. That's just one of the thousands of tailgates. I mean, at the heyday, we were cranking out 60 pounds of charcoal for a cookout."

With decades of tailgates under his belt, Lamb has kept the true tailgating tradition alive--Illini Nation coming together for fellowship, food, and maybe a pork chop or two.

"Frankly, the tailgates are one of the real things that make this community unique," said Lamb. "The amazing diversity that comes out every Saturday. They all show up at the tailgate. Nobody's asking who they are or what they're doing there. I know I've given away a thousand beers to people I don't know. For some dude that's clearly had a rough day, and he's just kind of wandering around, I'll say, 'Hey, why don't you grab a beer?' Because I know he just doesn't have the gumption to ask. And there are very few settings anymore where our young kids get to see that. I've said a hundred times, 'Hey, you want a pork chop? You look hungry. Here let me wrap it. Take it to wherever you're going.' That's the community. That's tailgating. And it's never been more prevalent."

Over the years, Lamb has seen the growth in tailgating around Memorial Stadium. He believes the University of Illinois has the best tailgating experience around.

"I've been to so many of these other schools," Lamb said. "You go to Iowa, and it's a maze. You visit Madison, you've got to weave your way around big old buildings to find isolated lots. The same thing with Purdue. The same thing with Indiana. Here, you've got open fields around the place. It's magnificent. I've been to Notre Dame, Ohio State, LSU, Alabama. I'll put us up against any of them, and I mean that."