See the Orange Men Photography Gallery to get a closer look at this orange tradition. Photos by Nick Onken and John Keatley.
My World: Houston Lui
The men of 6th Ashton wear orange. Just ask sophomore Houston Lui. He’s a second-year, jumpsuit-clad Orange Man, who gets a rush out of this floorwide pastime. As one of about three dozen Orange Men, he helps raise the volume at Falcon basketball games.
It’s all about tradition, and this one has lasted more than 30 years. And that’s not all. Jumpsuits are worn, not washed. “You don’t want to wash away whatever happened at the game,” Houston says. “But I can’t say my jumpsuit smells good.”
So what’s it like to be an orange man on game day? Houston Lui takes you through the game-day schedule:
90 minutes before game time: “We get suited up in orange, and grab our traditional props, such as the big megaphone, a horn, and the SPU flag. Our PA always wears a large orange cowboy hat.”
75 minutes before game time: “We get pumped up for 15 to 20 minutes with music. We listen to ‘The Final Countdown.’ You know, “da, da, da, dah—, da, da, dunt-dunt-da.”
55 minutes before game time: “We run down to Gwinn Commons for dinner and play ‘The Final Countdown’ all through dinner.”
20 minutes before game time: “We run around Martin Square chanting S-P-U! S-P-U! S-P-U!”
10 minutes before game time: “After running down to the gym, we enter hollering something like, ‘Whose house? Our house! Whose house? Our house!’ And, then we take our reserved seats in the front row and cheer for the Falcons!”
