`GRANNY' NOT YET READY FOR CSUN FOOTBALL RETIREMENT.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI When she first came around here, dressing in billowing bil·low n. 1. A large wave or swell of water. 2. A great swell, surge, or undulating mass, as of smoke or sound. v. bil·lowed, bil·low·ing, bil·lows v.intr. 1. red and black for every Cal State Northridge home football game, striding in front of the grandstand and tossing candy to the fans, Dorothea Heitz was a puzzlement puz·zle·ment n. The state of being confused or baffled; perplexity. Noun 1. puzzlement - confusion resulting from failure to understand bafflement, befuddlement, bemusement, bewilderment, mystification, obfuscation to university administrators. ``We thought she was this crazy old lady,'' said Joe Buttitta, who was the sports information director back then. But she kept showing up, livening the sideline sideline See on the sidelines. scene, and the staff learned the truth. She isn't crazy, just crazy about Matadors football. Three decades later, Dorothea Heitz is still showing up. Now the question is whether the school will be as faithful to her as she has been to it. Saturday afternoon, when the Matadors defeated Sacramento State 49-36 in the season's final home game, the 86-year-old known as ``Granny'' to several generations of athletes and coaches cheered from one of the best seats in the larger-than-normal crowd of 5,286. She reckons this makes 36 seasons in which she has attended every home game, and if that's as true as those around her seem to think, it's 178 games in a row for the Woodland Hills woman. She realizes, too, that this might have been her last game. North Campus Stadium, the Matadors' home since they moved from the Birmingham High field in 1971, is scheduled to be demolished de·mol·ish tr.v. de·mol·ished, de·mol·ish·ing, de·mol·ish·es 1. To tear down completely; raze. 2. To do away with completely; put an end to. 3. and the land used for a biotechnology project. The football program is likely to be eliminated entirely in a cost-cutting move. Heitz dressed for a party Saturday, but beneath that feathery feath·er·y adj. 1. Covered with or consisting of feathers. 2. Resembling or suggestive of a feather, as in form or lightness. feath hat holding a small U.S. flag, she didn't feel much like celebrating. ``I cry inside to think we might never have another football team,'' she said as the blue eyes Blue eyes are eyes that have blue irises (see eye color), and may also refer to:
They talk about college sports being ``for the kids.'' College sports also are for the Grannies, for devoted fans of all ages. One-hundred seventy-eight consecutive home games? Sounds like the most impressive record in Cal State Northridge football belongs to a 5-foot-tall great-grandmother. USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. had Giles Pellerin Giles L. Pellerin (December 23 1906 - November 21 1998), nicknamed the Superfan or Super Fan, was an American telephone company executive and a fan of the University of Southern California Trojans (USC) college football team, notable for having attended 797 , the ``Superfan'' who attended 797 consecutive Trojans games, home and away, before his death in 1998. Northridge has Granny Granny cantankerous matriarch of the Clampett family. [TV: “The Beverly Hillbillies” in Terrace, I, 93–94] See : Irascibility Heitz, introduced from midfield before Saturday's game as ``the Matadors' Greatest Fan.'' ``She's atypical atypical /atyp·i·cal/ (-i-k'l) irregular; not conformable to the type; in microbiology, applied specifically to strains of unusual type. a·typ·i·cal adj. ,'' said Jeff Kearin, the Matadors' head coach, referring to the less-than-spirited Northridge campus. ``But she'd be atypical at Michigan.'' ``We have a lot of people who talk about (boosting campus spirit),'' Buttitta said. ``She's tangible.'' Heitz, by trade a teacher of parliamentary procedure parliamentary procedure or rules of order Generally accepted rules, precedents, and practices used in the governance of deliberative assemblies. They are intended to maintain decorum, ascertain the will of the majority, preserve the rights of the minority, , got wrapped up in Northridge sports when she went back to school at age 51 to earn a sociology degree at the university then known as San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. State. A Montana native who moved here with her husband Joseph, she was shocked by the lack of student support for the teams. So Heitz, outgoing by nature, established an all-female squad of dancers, greeters and hostesses that became known as the Granny Girls. The red-clad group, as many as 50 strong at times, entertained at campus events and made a few local television appearances during the five years its leader was a student. A few of her ``Girls'' were with her for a homecoming-game reunion Saturday. A few of the athletes they cheered dropped by to receive a hug and kiss from Granny. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if there's anybody else in the country who has done as much for their school,'' said Larry Link, a Matadors basketball player in 1966-67. The school is about to say thanks by cutting football. ``I'm very nostalgic today,'' Heitz said as the second half kicked off. ``So much (of her life) has been tied up with our football team. I'm going to fight to the end to keep football. We who love the school should be out trying to raise some more money, because money's the key issue, I think. ``Imagine a school in this big valley with no football team! It (sports) is good for the young people. Even though I'm a soft old lady, it's wonderful what I've watched it do for kids who couldn't come to college any other way.'' The soft old lady punctuates her statements by punching you on the shoulder. ``We just need to get together and get behind this team and our school's sports. They're important in our lives,'' she said. Thirty-five years ago, the administrators didn't understand Granny Heitz. Considering that some of them want to take away her football team, maybe they don't understand her yet. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Dorothea Heitz attended 178th consecutive home game at North Campus Stadium on Saturday. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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