The Wave - Snap Classic

I'm Jonathan Goldstein and on the new season of Heavyweight and so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke.

A man who robbed a bank when he was 14 years old and a centenarian rediscoveres a love lost 80 years ago.

How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again?

Listen to Heavyweight wherever you get your podcasts.

Okay, so it's time the world knew the truth and I know I'm gonna get the angry letters, the furious reprisals.

Please send any and all complaints to the SNAP judgment complaint department.

Joe Rogan at JoeRogan.com but I gotta tell my truth because back in the day I move from Michigan to the San Francisco Bay.

Land in lovely Oakland, California, good people, good times, I instantly feel this sense of kinship,

the sense of home, the same foods and someone needs to explore the relationship between Michigan pasties and Bay Area epinatus.

Got the same pride of place and I even hear a similar slang in the bank.

Kicked folk walking down the street saying, that car is hella fast.

That girl dances hella wet, my mom's is hella crazy.

I just smiled pride catching echoes of my former home and my new home.

Imagine that my surprise, my chagrin to learn that these Bay Area people have the gall and the audacity to say Bay infinite the term hella.

The Bay Area hip hop, the skateboarders, the high fee movement, all they claim, which is odd because I know who started this worldwide trend.

We did. And by we, I mean the good folk of East Kentwood High School right outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Hey, it's gonna be hella cold up North Chad. Kim, how a good party you missed.

In fact, I want to go out on a limb and say the specific person who started this phenomenon is a guy who sat behind me and Mr. Vannamoll and GMG class.

I followed by the name Sean Webb. That's right. No longer. Can I just sit silent? What is giant?

A modern American English vernacular goes unheralded. I'm hella mad.

And today on Snap, that's not all we're setting the record straight on.

Snap and covers the real story of a generation's long mystery Snap Judgment proudly presents the wave.

When I was in Washington, it's a hell of a show when you're listening to Snap Judgment.

Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the wave episode.

Now, every high school superstar knows that the roar of the crowd has to fade eventually.

But Snap producer Bow Walls brings us a tale about one guy left behind something that will live on forever.

Our story begins right here in Oakland, California.

In just a few hours, the A's are gonna play their final game at the Oakland Coliseum.

Thousands of fans expected to attend showing their support for the team.

A team they've loved for years. In fact, decades for some.

This past fall, close to 47,000 people sold out the Coliseum.

To bid farewell to one of baseball's most storied franchises, before the A's abandoned the city of Oakland.

In their 56 seasons, the Oakland A's went from triumph to tragedy,

a once dynasty which included four world series titles, followed by years of fielding baseball's lowest payroll.

The Oakland A's were more than just a baseball team though.

They were a symbol of Oakland, a source of pride that unified a city.

And while the rundown Coliseum may have earned a reputation for its small crowds, sewage overflows, and even possum infestations.

It was home to a loyal fan base.

One of those fans was a man named Crazy George, who saw all of the ups and downs and would create one of the team's most iconic and lasting legacies.

He was asked by the A's to be at their last game to see them off and share in this final memory.

Well, I can tell you I was shy. Well, I'm still shy. I really am.

If I'm out of my element and people don't know I'm Crazy George, and you see me across the room and nobody knows me, I am shy.

I'm the quietest person in the room, and that's the way it's always been.

But once I become Crazy George, I changed my persona and I'm not shy anymore.

As a young kid, George was not crazy. His voice was not always graveled by a strange line of work, and his name wasn't even George.

All through high school I was called Mike, except my middle name is George Michael, and my dad was named George.

So I went by Mike. So all my friends to high school to junior college called me Mike, and it's quite a difference between Crazy George and Mike.

I mean, the world of difference. Mike was quiet. At high school I don't think I ever talked to a girl.

I never went to a dance. I probably didn't know a girl's name in high school, except it was one of my best friends, sisters.

I mean, I didn't have a date until I was 21 years old. I had like four or three or four intimate friends in high school, and I still keep in touch with two of them.

And they really are amazed that I transform myself like this. Almost everybody didn't expect it. And then they go, now you're Crazy George.

George, can I get a bottle of this for you? Sure. Oh, frickin' honor, man. You're a legend.

Thank you so much. All right.

It was in college as a student at San Jose State that one day something was unlocked, something deep inside that George never knew he had.

Don Balden, my best friend back then. One day he said, let's go to a football game.

And as soon as I'd love to go, we went and you brought a drum and a bugle.

Who do I do with a bugle? A bugle takes talent to play. I couldn't play the bugle, so he hands me the drum. Well, anybody can play a drum. And I started hitting it.

And I was having fun. And I was getting a few people cheering with me. And by the first half, I had like 40 people cheering in that section.

Is everybody ready? San Jose? Is everybody ready?

By the third quarter, I had the whole section cheer and they're all laughing and enjoying it. And we stood out.

George kept showing up to the Spartan football games. And soon with that drum in his hand, he wasn't so shy anymore.

When I'd hit the drum like three times in a row, I would look up in the stands and 5,000 people would be looking at me.

That's what the drum did. I got their attention. I adopted the idea that I liked being noticed.

I've always wanted to be an extrovert, I guess. And that gave me the perfect excuse.

So I started using my personality, carrying the drum. I get up close and personally in the stands with the fans. And that's why they cheer for me.

I'm with them. I've found out the impact I made on the fans. I can change the face of a game.

George became a fixture at San Jose State Games. And a bit of a local celebrity. But cheerleading wasn't going to pay his bills.

I needed a job. A job comes along at Books or High School. So now I was a regular full-blown teacher. And I tell you, that was not my forte, but I was teaching.

I don't know if they knew I was cut out to be a teacher or not, but I wasn't getting a lot of joy out of it.

At school, he could never seem to find that same control over the classroom, that crazy George had over the crowd.

The image of who I am, and then I have to be a strict teacher, and I have a terrible disciplinarian.

It was always like right below out of control. That's the way I felt. It was chaos in the class. The kids just went nuts.

And I lose control almost. I had nightmares about teaching sometimes. I was just not born for that. And I was born for cheerleading.

Oh, they don't say, come on, you big turkey! You dare me!

This might be the real George Henderson, alias, crazy George. Cheerleader, halvete marine, will travel from the seals to the earthquakes to the San Jose State Spartans.

The fans not only love his act. They obey his crazy demand.

George was moonlighting on the weekends as a local cheerleader when he started getting calls from bigger teams.

And that's when there was an indication I might be able to make some money at cheerleading. And I go, well, I'm going to have to gamble. I'll try it.

I just went in and I said, you know, I'm quitting teaching. I'm going to resign my post. And I started cheering. And then I became professional.

Hello, everybody! I'm Crazy George and this is what I do!

Now, Crazy George was traveling all over the country banging his drum at games.

It was a dream. I was having more fun than anybody. They paid me to do what I was doing for seven years from nothing.

And having fun with them then. And they started paying me. And they started paying me more and more.

The way more that I would never make teaching. And I'm just loving it. So I was happy.

But between the unique disamy occupation, we are so unique that nobody else fighting in the world has ever done it.

My personality, fit.

This is Crazy George, Mr. Insanity. His ability to instigate fans has captured the imagination of spectators and sports teams alike.

Back up for the Rockies for Santa Rites, a quick pass!

One night shortly after going pro, George got a gig working a hockey game for the Colorado Rockies of the NHL, who desperately needed his help to get the crowd into the game.

That night it was a smaller crowd. They hardly ever do more than 7,000 again. They were just a struggling franchise in the NHL.

And, you know, of course, we were probably being beat.

So he wanted to start a cheer with three sections of fans to try to wake up the sleepy building.

And so there was three sections that had a lot of people in it. So I took these three sections.

And I said, okay, I want to start here and I want you to stand up and sit down as I point you.

And I said, I want everybody to just yell, go. The section starts. I just want you to stand real, go, go, go.

When George felt it was time to rally the crowd, he pointed to the section and wanted to stand first.

Are you ready? Up!

Physically, I have the whole section stand up. And as they stand up, they yell, go. And then the next section stands up and goes, go.

And I started it. And now and go, the fight was on a curve.

Suddenly as the fans followed George's lead, it was contagious. But started to rise up out of the seats.

The sections next to them saw what they did and did the same.

I didn't have to talk to the next section all at once when I went to go, go, go. I stopped.

But the next section stood up and he'll go. And the name would just throw up the arms. And it kept going.

And it got bigger and louder as it went. And it's going now. And I'm going, all right. This is good.

The sections of fans standing up to cheer and sitting down one section at a time in sequence sort of looked like waves in the ocean.

That chair, after it died or stopped, a place with nuts, because they never seen anything like it.

Neither did I. I was happy to. I knew right then I knew that's a sure I would keep doing.

I knew that. So I had that new cheer in my arsenal.

Crazy George started what everyone would soon be calling the wave.

And snappy turns. George's new little cheer looks like with a few thousand fans.

But how about a sold out stadium? Stay tuned.

Welcome back to SnapGisement, the wave episode.

The last we left, a professional cheerleader. Crazy George started a never-before-seen cheer at an empty hockey game that sparked a crowd reaction unlike anything he expected.

But, can George clear off in prime time? SnapGisement.

Crazy George debuted the wave in Colorado and would break it out at smaller events like high school rallies.

But he never showcased it in a big stadium.

And that's when the time came to go to the Oakland A's game.

Of course, when it came to cheering, no one could ignore the A's 10th man. Crazy George Henderson.

During the 1981 season, the Oakland A's hired George to come cheer for 25 of their biggest home games.

They've only done one major league baseball team. And that's the Oakland A's.

The swinging A's dominated baseball in the 70s, winning three straight world series titles.

Oakland has won the 1972 World Series.

The Oakland A's, that won their second consecutive World Series championship.

And the A's have done it. The championship by the Oakland A's.

But as the 80s approached, they hit a post dynasty slump.

And the once proud A's were now a last place team, with rumors spreading that they might leave Oakland.

When new owner Walter Hoss bought the team in 1981, he knew of Crazy George in his reputation for stirring up Bay Area Crafts.

And thought he could help revitalize the atmosphere at the Oakland Coliseum.

I showed up and after I did one game, they just loved it.

Let's go away!

I'd do a cheer then I'd run up the row. I'd run to the next day.

And 10-10 seconds. 30 seconds. I'm in the next section ready to do a cheer.

Back and forth cheers. Four cornered cheers. Clap and you name it.

Crazy George. Crazy George Henderson gets them all going.

And it's a name.

Thank you. He's not popped up.

When I would walk in, I could take the fans.

And the 10 times more reaction than they ever saw before.

And the owners in the general matter, everybody players loved it.

It was game changing.

George controlled the crowds in Oakland as if he'd been there for years.

And during that 1981 season, the A's returned to their winning ways, finishing with the best record in the American League.

So on October 15th, in a sold out nationally televised playoff game against the rival New York Yankees,

with 47,000 fans in attendance,

Crazy George felt it might be time to introduce the wave to the world.

I knew at the start I knew I wanted maybe to try the wave.

But I just didn't know if I could do it.

But when I walked into that stadium, we're playing the Yankees.

Such rivalry. And it's just we wanted to beat them so bad.

And we'd already lost two games away.

So we had to win or we had the playoffs.

So I thought that wave, it was needed.

And I knew what it could do.

The energy you could add to a stadium.

But I'd only been doing it for like six months or a year before that in the little venues.

But I said if I pull it off here, this could be big.

It is 72 degrees here in Oakland.

A good crowd on hand.

And the background out here, I'm sure you hear the Oakland fans reacting to their Oakland A's.

They love them here.

The Yankees want to nail it down tonight, go on the World Series.

But the Oakland A's saying not just yet.

That was an important game, big, important game.

And it was a nationally televised game.

I wanted to win that game.

What's the call of them in Oakland, the game is scorch.

Humorous threat by each team.

Nobody's been able to push one across the plate.

So the game starts and we just are not scoring.

It's a low scoring game.

It's depressing.

And I go, well, I've got to pull this off because I have a feeling

it really could do something.

So I'm going, I'm going to try it.

Now, remember nobody had ever seen it before.

And so I went into this one section and I said, this is the time.

It's about the 30.

I could feel that atmosphere going down at inevitable.

We're going to get eliminated in the Yankees.

So I get the three sections.

I wanted three sections to talk to.

And I talked to the three sections and I told them when I wanted.

And I said, first you guys stand up.

You say, then you're going to stand up and you say, no, it's been a scream.

And I was mean.

These fans are really enthusiastic.

And I'll tell you the way it's been going.

It's like it's been boiling and bubbling up.

I'm now seeing Helen feeling here where something's winning her up.

And then I knew that when we start this,

the fourth and fifth section down there probably could hear me easily yelling at him.

And I started with these three sections.

And the energy that's just endless, great.

And they were having so much fun doing it.

And then it went about seven sections.

The three were great.

The next one was pretty great.

And then it did, it did.

And it just died.

Because everybody's watching the game.

And boy on cue and that died.

Everybody booed.

And everybody's looking over what's going on.

There's Brown really reacting.

Just saw one of the most amazing side shows.

You look at the mezzanine.

Each section of the set, gold got out all the way to the high and whole place.

Completely around the state of future.

Look like it was orchestrated.

I do it a second time.

And it starts off.

And now it's like eight, nine sections really strong.

It's behind home plate.

And it starts to die and it died.

And I'm screaming.

I'm yelling.

You keep it going.

And they said, OK, George, we got it.

Man, you just saw the picture of the man who orchestrates that.

Well, you got to do it as that.

George.

That's all I know about that.

George and crazy George.

Now one third of the stadium has done it.

At that point, I think everybody knew what I wanted.

Under the direction of the crazy George out here having themselves a good, good evening and enjoying baseball and enjoying the Coliseum.

And not hurting anybody.

And this guy really works it.

I mean, such power he has.

He just directs section by section and you see it.

It's a marvelous thing.

The third time.

This was it.

I started it.

They're not the lower off on top.

He really loves it.

Look at him.

He's got the lower off on.

I turned around and I'm watching it.

And all three depths are doing it.

Indianism.

All three.

Sweeps all the way around.

Comes back.

But through the outfield.

And comes where we are.

And the place we're in.

That's it.

Now every deck is doing it.

And there's screaming as it's coming by.

And it's like the most intense thing you ever saw.

Sounded like a locomotive.

It really did.

And I mean, I'm coming towards a massive locomotive at noise level.

And it just picks up.

And so you can visually shut your eyes.

And listen and know where the wave was in the stadium.

Just hear it.

And you can hear it.

I mean, outfield who come and you're out.

And it just rips my head.

And he can't go in.

And they loved it.

The back of the line is here.

This is organized in hearings.

All these things.

All they've got to do is get in here.

They started suction.

They raised up through the arms of the air.

And you don't go.

And just as they start to sit down,

the suction gets up.

And they go all the way around the ballpark doing.

And it's quite a sight.

It impressed me even I was unbelievably happy watching it go.

Because I had no idea.

If I could get 47,000 fans to it,

it was the biggest crowd I'd ever worked with.

Once it got going,

oh boy, I just felt it.

And I just sit there watching it.

And I'm just taking it in.

It was really a nice feeling.

In the back of my mind,

I was hoping they would have it filmed.

Because it's never been on video.

The game was excruciating towards the end.

I mean, the fans were just so loyal.

And they were cheering and yelling and supporting the A's.

But then to the game,

it would sound like we were winning the game.

And we were behind.

And it was tough, a tough loss.

But the joy after the game,

the fans reaction to me,

they were coming up to me and going,

what was that?

We loved it.

People had never seen it before.

And I didn't know it.

At that time, I debuted it to the world.

Because I didn't know it was going to go around the world.

You got to keep it going.

Keep it going.

That's it.

That's a beautiful way.

After showcasing the wave to a national audience,

Crazy George started using it regularly at games

as his signature cheer.

I like when he has the A's wave going around.

Yeah, that's the best.

That cheer was the staple of me hitting the pinnacle of power.

That is when I know I've got to state him

in the palm of my hand.

The big debut of the wave instantly led to more jobs

and bigger contracts for Crazy George.

And his celebrity status grew.

At first, it seemed like his golden ticket.

His name is George Henderson.

Although to most sports fans around North America,

he is best known as Crazy George.

Yes, he has fun.

But when you take a look at his annual income,

you realize that this man is not crazy at all.

But not long after George unveiled it at the A's game,

the unthinkable happened.

George was questioned by a reporter in Canada

about whether or not he was actually

the original creator of the cheer.

I never heard of it, never thought of it.

When I heard a team was trying to challenge me inventing the wave.

The reporter told George that the University of Washington

was claiming that they were, in fact, the founders of the wave.

After fans did it at a football game,

right around the same time, George pulled it off and opened.

And so he told me that they were taking credit for it.

And they were claiming they did it on the 31st.

Two weeks after I did it.

And after it was nationally televised during the game,

I did October 15th.

They did it on October 31st.

So two weeks later, they did it.

But I didn't hear they were claiming it.

That's when I called up the University of Washington

to find out it was really, I got mad and I wanted to correct it.

And I figured it'd be really easy.

I called them up and I called the University of Washington.

They were athletic departments.

And I talked into the guy.

And I said, whoa, when did you start this?

And they gave me the date and all that.

And I'm going, no, I invented it.

I say, I know I invented it.

And it took a long process.

And I invented it.

On October 15th, I have a video.

He says, no.

I said, well, I did it two weeks before you.

And we get this argument.

George reached out to newspapers, radio shows.

Anybody that would listen.

But the claims kept coming in.

Sports Illustrator.

I was supposed to be like the premier great experts on sports.

So somebody in sports Illustrator did some little article on it

and gave Washington credit.

And then I heard somebody on Monday night football

say that Seattle created the wave.

I couldn't believe it.

The story of the birth of the wave was getting retold across the country

and now had a life of its own.

It was the originator of the wave.

So he claims.

So he claims, right?

That is greatly debated.

We're going the wave.

We're going the wave.

Are you ready?

Even though his claim to fame as the inventor was being questioned,

crazy George kept leading the wave.

And it kept spreading.

I did it at the Olympics here.

At 84.

And then Mexico saw it.

Took it down there, started doing all their venues.

Then the World Cup comes along.

And in every game in the World Cup,

all the Mexicans did the wave.

And there's Tracosterium is a mess of flags and jubilant faces.

Now it's televised around the world.

So now the whole world sees the wave for the first time.

And everybody calls it the Mexican wave.

Well, I could fight the University of Washington.

But I can't fight Mexico.

I'm under God and so I said,

I just like to laugh about it.

But everybody calls it outside of this country.

It's the Mexican wave.

They invented it.

They get the wave moving around here.

Or they've got a full house. They can get it rocking.

When it finally became like a standard of the world,

I mean, I think every sport,

every team that's professional,

no matter what it is,

probably did a wave at the stadium.

And this has started around the world.

This is a legend.

He invented the wave.

I invented it.

How would we were 1981?

That's what I thought.

The guy that invented the paperclip.

He invented that.

It's a little thing.

But he's walking around, he's going by some office,

and somebody is slipping that paperclip

onto a five pages of something.

He gets something out of that.

He gets an enjoyment that he invented that.

And they're using it.

And they're happier for it.

It's better than heaven.

Five sheets of paper flying all over the room

and you can't figure out what order you're in.

And that's what I do.

That wave going anywhere.

I just, I feel great about it.

It is really my claim to fame.

Let me see it again.

That's the highlight film.

1981.

47,000 fans of the open days say goodbye

to an incredible season.

Throughout the 43 year debate

over who invented the wave,

the Oakland A's always stood by George.

The A's were great.

And when they heard about the controversy,

kept back at me.

I'm part of the Oakland A's.

I'm supporting you guys.

I'm part of you.

And I'm showing you how much we love you

by interconnecting with all the other fans

to show the support.

So last September for the A's final game in Oakland,

the last in the Coliseum,

the send-off for the whole city

saying goodbye to its baseball team.

Former president Andy Dolitch reached out to George personally

and asked him to be a guest of the A's.

Perhaps the most popular A's fan of them all.

Coliseum is where Crazy George invented the wave

during the 1981 playoffs.

And so he had to be here today.

It's a happy sad day.

Oh my gosh, I cannot believe it.

The last A's game, I said,

well, I'll bring my drum.

But I don't know what I'll do.

And then I pull into the parking lot.

My drum is where I get my drum out of the bag.

And we're sitting in the middle of the parking lot.

It was in like 10 seconds.

There were 15 people around me.

And I'm looking around,

and they're just going crazy, crazy, Georgia.

And it's so sad, and they're so unhappy,

but they're all want to support the A's, the team itself.

The A's are the greatest baseball team in the world.

And why is I hope you're back?

Go A's.

You invented the wave, I'm right there.

I start doing little cheers.

I pounded my drum at a place.

Just all of that.

But I'm screaming, yelling, they're screaming, yelling back.

And it's getting more and more fun.

And then for one last time,

Crazy George led the way.

In the place he introduced it to the world.

When I'm gone, they will be talking about the wave.

And so it means a lot to me.

Let's make Crazy George proud.

That's a crazy George.

A huge snap judgment thank you to the man, the myth, the legend.

Crazy George Henderson for sharing your story with the snap.

The 80 years young, Georgia is still banging the drum.

And his alma mater, San Jose State,

for the Spartans and George just celebrated his 50th season,

cheering professionally for the San Jose earthquakes of Major League Soccer.

To read more about the life and times of George, check out his memoir,

Still Crazy after all these cheers.

You can find the link to the book as well as all things social media

for Crazy George at snapjudgment.org.

This piece was edited by Anna Susman.

The original score is by Dirk Swartzoff.

It's produced by Bowel Walsh.

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Take a swing.

Hit the ball.

Watch the ball laying in the green.

Have no one catch it.

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