After 38 years, 'Krazy George' still beating his drum to cheer on Spartans
Kelli Downey
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Sports
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"Literally, he is in his fifth decade of being a cheerleader for teams," said Lawrence Fan, SJSU sports information director.
Henderson, 62, is a professional paid cheerleader. He is known for wearing a Spartans jersey with cutoff jeans and banging his drum at football games.
"He beats the drum and encourages people to follow along with whatever the cheer happens to be," Fan said.
For the past 38 years, Henderson has been making memorable impressions on audiences at various games.
"I remember him from when I attended the Oakland A's game," said Julie Stansberry, the project coordinator for Spartan athletics. "I remember him from when I was little. I remember him getting the crowd to cheer. He would bang on his drum."
Henderson attended SJSU from 1965 to 1971, where he was a member of the judo team. He majored in industrial arts.
After college, Henderson taught at Buscher High School in Santa Clara where he taught metal shop, woodshop and electronics.
Cheerleading for Henderson originated at SJSU, he said. Henderson said he became friends with his roommate and attended the first football game of the season with his friend after they became roommates.
"He (Henderson's then roommate) brought a drum and a bugle with him," Henderson said. "I couldn't play the bugle, because that takes talent. So he handed me the drum."
Now, Henderson claims, if he cannot have the drum, then he cannot cheer.
Henderson said he was known to be crazy by the judo team. He became known as "Krazy George," and the nickname has stayed with him since.
Henderson said he started out by getting the judo team to cheer and do crazy raucous things in the section. He started moving around and interacting with the rest of the crowds at games.
"By the end of the season the whole student body was following me and doing cheers, and I was just a student sitting in the stands," Henderson said.
In 1976, Henderson quit teaching and became a professional cheerleader. As a professional cheerleader, Henderson is hired to appear at games and get the crowds involved with cheers.
"He's the best," said Doug Kelley, a fan who is familiar with Krazy George. "He gets the crowd going."
In addition to being known as "Krazy George," Henderson claims he invented the wave on Oct. 15, 1981.
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