News > February 20, 2003

By Jordan Rae Smith

Contributing Reporter

Skip Prosser wasn’t the only one busy making plans before the Wake vs. Duke men’s basketball game on Thurs. Feb. 13.

Enthusiastic fans set up camp outside of the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum as early as two nights before the Feb. 13 game was to begin.

The majority of these fans were members of the basketball support group, the Screamin’ Demons. While guaranteed a seat in their designated section, members arrived early in order to sit closer to the action.

Freshman Ben Brady said he was one of the first Screamin’ Demons on site, along with four of his friends.

“I got to the LJVM fairly late Tuesday night,” Brady said. “We brought hamburgers, steaks, chicken, eggs and other food to grill.”

Brady and his friends weren’t the only ones who put in a little extra effort to be close to the action.

By the time the doors of the coliseum opened, there were already over 300 Screamin’ Demons in line waiting to file in, as well as several other ticketholders, sporting body paint and equipped with homemade signs to help cheer on their favorite team.

According to Brady, the game was worth his 40-hour wait.

“It was definitely worth camping out,” Brady said. “Front row seats are totally different than any other section. I can’t wait to camp out again.”

While not every fan may have had Brady’s dedication, the game had a huge turnout and the coliseum was packed with energetic fans. Many felt that the atmosphere of the crowd had been unmatched in recent years.

According to junior Angela Watkins, “There was more energy and spirit at the Duke game than at any other game I have attended during my three years at Wake Forest. The enthusiasm from the students and fans was overwhelming.”

The game was also particularly special to many of the seniors in attendance, who had never seen Wake beat Duke in their university career.

“It was, without a doubt, the loudest I’ve ever seen the coliseum,” said senior Brandon Hollis, secretary of the Screamin’ Demons. “It was good to see not only the students but also the rest of crowd, the public, getting into the game.”

Long before any fans arrived for the game, administrators of the LJVM Coliseum were also busy verifying that proper safety precautions were in place before the sold-out crowd packed the seats.

According to Chuck Vestal, assistant director of event services for the coliseum, the increased safety measures were a combination of the recent elevation in the national terror alert level and the excitement that invariably surrounds a game like Duke.

“We have different levels of staffing for basketball,” Vestal said. “(We increase security) for Carolina and Duke because we expect a little more from the crowd at those games.”

The orange alert, the second- highest level in the national color-coded system, signifies a high risk of a terrorist attack on the United States. The elevation to the orange alert was made Feb. 7, citing intelligence information that demonstrated “increased likelihood” of terrorist attacks.

Those in attendance likely noticed some small changes in security measures. Although coliseum staff hasn’t searched bags in several months, they have resumed doing so.

“We started doing bag searches after 9/11, and that kind of waned down as we talked to a lot of facilities around the country who had relaxed that,” Vestal said. “But with the occasion of the security alert, we take these measures.”

In addition, fans may have noticed the addition of concrete barriers to keep cars away from the front of the coliseum. And while coliseum patrons were asked to arrive early to prevent long lines, few noticed any waits out of the ordinary.

Freshman Heather Andersen, a resident of New York City, said she had no problem with the new precautions.

“Honestly, it’s not that much different than it would be at home because it’s basically become standard procedure,” Andersen said. “They checked bags at every important event; they even checked bags at school plays and swim meets.”

Vestal also noted some behind-the-scenes precautions that took place before the game.

“It was more (an increase in) staff awareness than a change. We did have the resources in place to do a bomb sweep through the (Forsyth County) Sheriff’s department. We will also do that for the game with Virginia,” he said.

The LJVM also has a plan in place should they receive a bomb threat. Fortunately, the coliseum has had a low incidence of those threats, but if one were to occur, there is a “good system in place,” Vestal said.

Despite precautions and increased security, fans were still able to rush the court at the conclusion of the second overtime.

“We want to encourage that,” Vestal said. “Next time we’d rather do something where the coaches and teams could shake hands, but we would never want to discourage that. We do want to discourage climbing up the goals, which we had a few incidents of.”

Thanks to the increased security, an “overexcited student” with a defibrillator, who had a heart attack, was assisted by nearby paramedics during the court rush, said Vestal.

Paramedics rushed the student to the hospital where he was attached to an IV.

The student was released within a matter of 30 minutes.