Tweet

After home football games, the team gathers on the field to hear a speech from Coach Mike Woodley. Then the players split into defense and offense to listen to their other coaches before finally breaking into the locker room to shower and change.

Many fans then pack up and go home, thinking that is the end of the football team’s Saturday schedule. It most certainly is not.

The team gathers in the lot just west of the field to devour buffet-style homemade food. Families and fans gather around quarterback Derek Fulton’s family camper, decked out with an Iowa State Cyclone emblem, to eat, talk and watch whatever big college game is on the flat-screen TV.

The football team shuffles down the food line, around six banquet-sized tables, grabbing sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, fruits, vegetables and a plethora of desserts.

In the first season of the football program, the mother of alumnus Tyler Wells came up with the idea of the tailgate, and ever since, the tailgate has grown into a bigger event each year.

Junior running back Hutch Burns’ mother, Brenda Burns, began helping with the tailgate in 2009. Brenda is also the mother of Gavin Burns, who played for the Vikings during their second season.

After Wells graduated, Brenda took on leading the tailgate.

“I took the process of doing the tailgating,” Brenda said. “I took the actual coordinating on, and it’s been a lot of fun. We feed the players after the games. They come over, we get to interact with the players; it’s an awesome time. I think the players love it, the parents love it, the fans love it, so it’s been a lot of fun over all the years.”
Susan Barnabo, mother of defensive lineman Dalton Barnabo and wife of the defensive line coach Tom Barnabo, said, “I’ve been here since Day One. I’ve seen it growing. We started out as, ‘Oh hey, football,’ and then all of a sudden it’s taken a new turn where it’s escalated and intensified and it’s gone to a level that we never thought it would go to.”

The moms get together to figure out how much meat they will need to feed the players because they try to provide a main course or sandwiches for the players. Donations from fans and parents, from money to meat, help the families put on the tailgate.

“The fans have been gracious with the monetary donations,” Brenda said.

She said this also helps with the cost of meat, which is taken care of by Julie Fulton, Derek Fulton’s mom.

A man named Stu cooks the meat while everyone brings dessert. Everybody puts food out after the game.
During the week of Sept. 19, the tailgate ran out of food. So the week of Sept. 26, they tried to prepare more.

“Each year we’ve grown bigger,” Brenda said. “We had 180 players and people that we fed (on Sept. 19) here after the game,” Brenda said. “It’s just an awesome experience, and I would encourage anyone that wants to come over after every game, or before. The parents and fans are here before. Players come see us after the game. It’s just a lot of fun.”

Susan Barnabo said, “What has been the most fascinating and exciting thing about this program is that the Grand View football has become a community within a community.”

“My favorite part would be the friendships we made from all the parents and fans,” Brenda said. “They become your family, and it’s just so much fun to meet new people every year as new (players) come on. Some of the alumni parents come back each fall and tailgate with us still, so that’s a lot of fun to see them again; it’s your family for the football season because then you go into the winter and spring and don’t see them. Then, come fall again, the family’s back.”