The maroon-and-gold scarves that Loyola-Chicago fans have ubiquitously wrapped themselves in during their team’s NCAA Tournament run not only are a must-have item for Ramblers supporters. Fans of other schools need them, too.
When the Ramblers were winning their first two tournament games last weekend in Dallas, a fan from another school offered the mother of guard Donte Ingram $100 for her scarf. Doretha Ingram told the fan to meet her after the game, but the transaction did not come to pass.
“She’s lucky I wasn’t there,” said her husband, Donald. “I would have taken it off her neck.”
Colorful, unique and many in number, the Ramblers’ scarves have become part of the background of March Madness, perhaps not unlike the cowbell at Mississippi State football games. In any TV shot of the Loyola cheering section, the scarves, draped around the necks of Ramblers fans, can’t be missed.
“It lights up the room, doesn’t it?” Doretha Ingram asked Thursday, as she watched Kansas State eke out its win over Kentucky to set up Saturday’s Elite Eight showdown at Philips Arena between her son’s team and the Wildcats (the purple kind).
How did Loyola get to this point? Brian Day, the athletic department’s ticket operations director, can tell you. The Ramblers joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 2013, and the school wanted to make a splash in its first conference tournament in St. Louis. Ideas were kicked around, and someone came up with scarves. They were offered free to fans who purchased tickets for the tournament. It was nothing more than a token of appreciation, Day said.
But fans wore them to the games, kept wearing them the following season and then more fans wanted to get their own. Now, Day said, about 75 percent of fans wear the scarves (available for $20) to games at Gentile Arena. (Yes, it’s really Gentile Arena. It’s named for Joseph J. Gentile, a Loyola alumnus and benefactor. It’s pronounced jen-teel. Back to the scarves.)
They really took off at the MVC Tournament this year, Day said.
“People kept asking for them and wanting them, and we would have them at pregame alumni events before the games down in St. Louis and the hotel, and we couldn’t get them out fast enough before people were buying them,” Day said.
“Every week since it’s been kind of the same thing. I would never have imagined it would have blown into this, but it’s been pretty incredible.”
The athletic department has not shied away from the frequent comparison that the scarves bear a strong resemblance to those worn by Gryffindoor students in the “Harry Potter” movie series. The team organized a Harry Potter night for a game last season, and the students from the school’s Quidditch Club (the broom-riding sport in the series) put on a halftime demonstration.
“We’re kind of embracing it,” Day said.
What seems to make it work is the pop of color and the item being somewhat out of place. Scarves are more associated with soccer fans, particularly in Europe.
“It just brings unity,” guard Cameron Satterwhite said. “It just shows that Loyola’s a family. We’ve all got the scarves – the parents, the fans. You get a scarf, you know that it’s repping Loyola. Onward LU.”
And, now, they have perhaps the best branding of all. They’re associated with winners.
“These scarves are bracket busters,” Donald Ingram said. “These scarves are going to the Elite Eight, baby.”
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