3 September 2023
MANHATTAN (KSNT) – College football is officially back, and so are the sights and sounds of tailgating. One group of K-State super fans has only missed one game in the past 10 seasons.
“The only one we had off was the weekend that my son got married,” K-State fan Chuck Sexton said. “Which was hard, but you know he wanted to get married on a gameday, so we did what we had to do.”
Other than that day, his group never misses the chance to tailgate at a home game in Manhattan.
“Well, let me just say, that it’s the whole thing,” K-State fan Jo Hardy said of tailgating before games. “We’re here for the game, but we love to come before, party, party, party. We’re good partiers, nothing naughty, just good food, lot of quacking, it’s a good time.”
Hardy is from Wichita, and she joins plenty of other tailgaters who travel to Manhattan to meet Sexton and his wife on gamedays. Sexton and his wife own a ‘Wildcat bus,’ which is decked out from floor to ceiling with photos of the group sporting their Wildcat purple.
Sexton drives the bus to a stadium lot on Saturdays during the fall, and sets up with tents and food hours before game time.
“He drives it and we just holler and holler and have a good time,” Hardy said.”
Sexton originally bought the Wildcat bus to make tailgating and football games more enjoyable for his wife, but over the years the group has grown significantly. He said there’s typically around 30 people who join in on the fun each weekend.
“It’s really a great opportunity to have fellowship, meet people from all over, and that includes people from opposing teams,” Sexton said. “So, they all like to come out and have some fun.”