Kansas State University Athletics
There’s No Place Else Like It
Sep 12, 2024 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Jordy Nelson was one of those little kids running around the grass hill on the northeast corner of KSU Stadium back in the 1990s. Yes, it was called KSU Stadium back then, back before it became known as Bill Snyder Family Stadium in 2005. Anyway, there was little Jordy playing on the grass hill. One game, he decided to leave the stadium at halftime and go to the eastside parking lot. Suddenly, the stadium erupted.
"It was one of my most memorable moments and not a good one," Nelson says. "Snuck out right before halftime and Martin Gramatica hit his record-setting 65-yard field goal. You knew immediately something special had happened."
Yes, special things happen inside the 50,000-capacity stadium, adorned with limestone, purple and white to the brim, a fall weekend pilgrimage, a destination some fans travel great distances to visit. There's no place like it in the Sunflower State and, if you don't pay attention to the let's-make-a-poll experts geared toward SEC schools, Bill Snyder Family Stadium is rare — period. Recently, Sports Illustrated sent two reporters to every Big 12 football venue. They judged each school's game day experience on a set of criteria — Stadium, Traditions, Atmosphere, Tailgating, Fans, Town — and here were the results: 1) K-State, 2) Cincinnati, 3) Texas Tech, 4) Oklahoma State, 5) Colorado.
K-State, of course, is nestled in Manhattan, which according to "Livability" is the No. 1 Best College Town. ESPN declared K-State's "Wabash Cannonball" the No. 1 pregame tradition in the Big 12. For years, Bill Snyder Family Stadium has been regarded as the No. 1 fan experience in the Big 12 Conference.
"I think about Willie doing the K-S-U chant and Willie standing up on the press box when we won the 2012 Big 12 Championship," says former K-State wide receiver Curry Sexton. "The impact of Willie and some of the traditions makes Bill Snyder Family Stadium special. When the band walks in 40 minutes before kickoff and starts playing its songs, that energizes the crowd. The band plays the entire game with the fight song and Wabash."
No, there is nothing quite ordinary about Bill Snyder Family Stadium. That's the thing that former All-America linebacker Ben Leber used to tell his Minnesota Vikings teammates and then as a color analyst told his co-workers at the TV networks each week. Leber played in many memorable games inside then-KSU Stadium and some of his former Vikings teammates did, too, as college football players. A couple things happened during those years.
First, K-State did not lose at home.
Second, it was loud.
"People say, 'You wouldn't expect it to be so loud with only 50,000,'" Leber says. "That's the thing that I continually hear from the former teammates who played against K-State. They couldn't believe 50,000 people could be so passionate, loud and into the game, that it makes it feel like it's a stadium of 100,000 people."
Taylor Braet, K-State Football Director of Recruiting for the past 19 years, has witnessed it again and again. Want to go to a place with fan support? Go to K-State.
"The passion and charisma and fans, this place is unique," Braet says. "What separates K-State from anyplace else is the fans are truly connected. There's a connection between the university and athletics that's bigger than the game itself. Maybe it's being an underdog, a blue-collar school and knowing you have to bring it and be a part of it to make it elite.
"Even going to different venues, there's no place where the crowd stands the entire game and they're screaming the entire game, and they don't leave the game. There's not a place where it matters so much to those people, and because it matters and they care, that's why they bring it every game day."
It's special. And that's a part of what keeps Dr. Frank Tracz, Director of K-State Bands, coming back. Tracz is in his 32nd year at K-State. His marching band was once named the No. 1 college marching band in the country. Some nickname it the "Best Band in the Land." Something magical happens during home games: The band comes to life. Like really comes to life. Like its own entity. It's crazy.
"There's a mystique about this place that's hard to explain," Dr. Tracz says. "You've got to be a part of it and then you'll understand."
The marching band is positioned within the K-State student section — directly behind the visiting team's sideline.
"I always get a kick out of opposing coaches and players who haven't been here before," Dr. Tracz says. "They turn around like, 'What the heck is that?' We get so fired up and the students get fired up. It's all passion. It's all love."
And it's intimidating for opponents.
"As a player, there's a desire to perform well for your fans," Sexton says. "Your fans spent their entire day supporting this football team. Fans drove multiple hours or drove and spent an entire day tailgating and watching the game and you want to put a quality product out there for them. There's absolutely a pride factor in that. Our fans provide an energy for the team that is underappreciated or ignored.
"You talk about home field advantage and what that means and it varies place to place, but at K-State, the home field advantage is as good as anybody."
In the history of the Big 12 Conference, K-State is 145-47 (75.5%) in games when it is the home team. That's the most wins among all active schools in the league. It's just ahead of Oklahoma State at 134-48 (73.6%) and BYU at 130-42 (.756).
Big home wins? There've been plenty.
1997: (20) K-State 36, (14) Texas A&M 17
1998: (2) K-State 40, (11) Nebraska 30
2000: (16) K-State 29, (4) Nebraska 28
2002: (11) K-State 27, (25) USC 20
2002: (12) K-State 58, (21) Iowa State 7
2006: K-State 45, (4) Texas 42
2011: K-State 36, (15) Baylor 35
2012: (4) K-State 55, (15) Texas Tech 24
2012: (7) K-State 42, (23) Texas 24
2019: K-State 48, (5) Oklahoma 41
2022: K-State 41, (6) Oklahoma 34
2022: (22) K-State 48, (9) Oklahoma State 0
"I take a great sense of pride knowing I was one of many in a long tradition who helped pioneer what K-State football has now become," College Football Hall of Famer and former All-Pro Dallas Cowboy Terence Newman says. "The meticulous time and effort coaches and players put in is a majority of the battle. What cannot be overlooked is the fan base and the tremendous advantage they provide as well as their unwavering support."
Now, here it comes. Friday night. No. 14 K-State, 2-0, and No. 20 Arizona, 2-0. A 7 p.m. kickoff on FOX at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Millions of TV viewers. It'll mark the first time since 2014 that a nationally-ranked K-State team has faced a nationally ranked non-conference opponent in Manhattan. In fact, it has occurred just one other time in the last quarter-century. That's when No. 11 K-State outlasted No. 25 USC, 27-20, in a game that then-USC head coach Pete Carroll said had "the most intimidating crowd" he had heard since he had been with the Trojans.
Newman was a part of the reason why. Late in the first half, the star cornerback returned a blocked extra-point attempt 90 yards to the end zone on a play that caused mass hysteria among the nighttime crowd of 49,276 and stadium roared to arguably its highest volume level in history.
"Man, that game was special," Newman says. "We played against the eventual Heisman Trophy winner and a loaded offense and defense. The only other time I heard the stadium as loud was in 1998 when we ended a long streak of losses to Nebraska. It was electric, pure energy coursing through every single fan.
"We played our hearts out and they yelled out theirs."
Friday night — that's when sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson and the 2024 Wildcats will get their opportunity in front of a nationally-televised audience to show what the K-State Wildcats are all about.
"It's a really special opportunity for us, and we get to play at home, and our home crowd is like no other," Johnson says. "It's going to be a lot of fun. I've never played a game this late, but it's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm really excited to go out there and line it up with my guys."
In 2021, K-State head coach Chris Klieman decided to start having the team dropped off for the game in the westside parking lot. Hours before kickoff, the team busses park near the middle of the westside parking lot at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. K-State fans gather around, scream and high-five, and coaches, staff and players walk into the stadium, taking in the sights and the smells of college football.
"I hope FOX goes out in the tailgate lots and says, 'Man, that's important," Klieman says. "That's what we tell recruits all the time: You want to go to a place where football is important. You go out in those tailgate lots, you have a crew out there when those busses come up, and it is electric. It sends chills down your spine to see the enthusiasm and passion for what college football is.
"Then you go into The Bill for the pregame and the students are there, and the band is there. It doesn't get any better than that. That's why a lot of kids come or choose to stay is because football is really important with our students, with our community, with our state, and with our region."
K-State has won 12 of its last 15 home games with its last such victory against a ranked opponent coming with a 48-0 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State on October 29, 2022 — a victory sent fans pouring onto the field to carry off quarterback Will Howard, the star of the game.
"You look at our passionate fan base and have to start there," K-State athletics director Gene Taylor says. "You look in the stands and there's purple and lavender everywhere. Some of our pregame traditions, they're just so cool — the Wabash, the video board, all of it. We're patriotic and say the Pledge of Allegiance, and all of that collectively gives you chill bumps. When the team comes out and our fans go crazy, it's just different."
Now Nelson, a former Consensus All-American and Ring of Honor member who retired after an All-Pro career with the Green Bay Packers, lives with his family outside of Manhattan. He is a season-ticket holder and an ardent fan of his alma mater.
"Honestly, one of the reasons we've moved our seats outside is to be out in the atmosphere," Nelson says. "I want to experience it and be a part of it and contribute to it. The sheer volume of noise can make a huge difference. I want to be a part of the fan base. The family is outside making noise, and we try to get the kids to make noise. I get yelled at because I beat my hand against the wall beside us to make noise. We're a part of it. We love it. It's definitely special."
Taylor will be on the football field prior to kickoff, as the student section and marching band springs to life for another game in the Little Apple.
"This is year number eight for me at K-State and I still get emotional and still get chill bumps," he says. "It doesn't get old."
Time has passed since Gramatica kicked his 65-yard field goal just before halftime in a game against Northern Illinois on September 12, 1998. Gramatica's kick through the uprights in the north end zone was the longest field goal in NCAA history without use of a kicking tee.
Nelson was there. And he has been a part of many big moments inside the stadium, first as a child, then as a player, and now as a fan. Through it all, he has embraced the mystique that wafts across the field — one that is shared by those K-State fans who make this fall weekend pilgrimage to the happiest place on earth.
"I've never walked into that stadium thinking we don't have a chance to win," Nelson says. "There's definitely times I went in there as a player and as a fan, and you do have a weird feeling about it. I remember Coach Klieman's first year beating OU at home. I always give us a shot. I always give us a chance. The passion and pride that the players have and the way they try to defend the home turf, and that chip-on-the-shoulder when you're playing OU, Texas, or somebody like that, you see it unfold. You think, 'This could happen.' There's something unique about it. There's always magic."
He pauses.
"There's something mystical going on inside that stadium."
Jordy Nelson was one of those little kids running around the grass hill on the northeast corner of KSU Stadium back in the 1990s. Yes, it was called KSU Stadium back then, back before it became known as Bill Snyder Family Stadium in 2005. Anyway, there was little Jordy playing on the grass hill. One game, he decided to leave the stadium at halftime and go to the eastside parking lot. Suddenly, the stadium erupted.
"It was one of my most memorable moments and not a good one," Nelson says. "Snuck out right before halftime and Martin Gramatica hit his record-setting 65-yard field goal. You knew immediately something special had happened."
Yes, special things happen inside the 50,000-capacity stadium, adorned with limestone, purple and white to the brim, a fall weekend pilgrimage, a destination some fans travel great distances to visit. There's no place like it in the Sunflower State and, if you don't pay attention to the let's-make-a-poll experts geared toward SEC schools, Bill Snyder Family Stadium is rare — period. Recently, Sports Illustrated sent two reporters to every Big 12 football venue. They judged each school's game day experience on a set of criteria — Stadium, Traditions, Atmosphere, Tailgating, Fans, Town — and here were the results: 1) K-State, 2) Cincinnati, 3) Texas Tech, 4) Oklahoma State, 5) Colorado.
K-State, of course, is nestled in Manhattan, which according to "Livability" is the No. 1 Best College Town. ESPN declared K-State's "Wabash Cannonball" the No. 1 pregame tradition in the Big 12. For years, Bill Snyder Family Stadium has been regarded as the No. 1 fan experience in the Big 12 Conference.
"I think about Willie doing the K-S-U chant and Willie standing up on the press box when we won the 2012 Big 12 Championship," says former K-State wide receiver Curry Sexton. "The impact of Willie and some of the traditions makes Bill Snyder Family Stadium special. When the band walks in 40 minutes before kickoff and starts playing its songs, that energizes the crowd. The band plays the entire game with the fight song and Wabash."
No, there is nothing quite ordinary about Bill Snyder Family Stadium. That's the thing that former All-America linebacker Ben Leber used to tell his Minnesota Vikings teammates and then as a color analyst told his co-workers at the TV networks each week. Leber played in many memorable games inside then-KSU Stadium and some of his former Vikings teammates did, too, as college football players. A couple things happened during those years.
First, K-State did not lose at home.
Second, it was loud.
"People say, 'You wouldn't expect it to be so loud with only 50,000,'" Leber says. "That's the thing that I continually hear from the former teammates who played against K-State. They couldn't believe 50,000 people could be so passionate, loud and into the game, that it makes it feel like it's a stadium of 100,000 people."
Taylor Braet, K-State Football Director of Recruiting for the past 19 years, has witnessed it again and again. Want to go to a place with fan support? Go to K-State.
"The passion and charisma and fans, this place is unique," Braet says. "What separates K-State from anyplace else is the fans are truly connected. There's a connection between the university and athletics that's bigger than the game itself. Maybe it's being an underdog, a blue-collar school and knowing you have to bring it and be a part of it to make it elite.
"Even going to different venues, there's no place where the crowd stands the entire game and they're screaming the entire game, and they don't leave the game. There's not a place where it matters so much to those people, and because it matters and they care, that's why they bring it every game day."
It's special. And that's a part of what keeps Dr. Frank Tracz, Director of K-State Bands, coming back. Tracz is in his 32nd year at K-State. His marching band was once named the No. 1 college marching band in the country. Some nickname it the "Best Band in the Land." Something magical happens during home games: The band comes to life. Like really comes to life. Like its own entity. It's crazy.
"There's a mystique about this place that's hard to explain," Dr. Tracz says. "You've got to be a part of it and then you'll understand."
The marching band is positioned within the K-State student section — directly behind the visiting team's sideline.
"I always get a kick out of opposing coaches and players who haven't been here before," Dr. Tracz says. "They turn around like, 'What the heck is that?' We get so fired up and the students get fired up. It's all passion. It's all love."
And it's intimidating for opponents.
"As a player, there's a desire to perform well for your fans," Sexton says. "Your fans spent their entire day supporting this football team. Fans drove multiple hours or drove and spent an entire day tailgating and watching the game and you want to put a quality product out there for them. There's absolutely a pride factor in that. Our fans provide an energy for the team that is underappreciated or ignored.
"You talk about home field advantage and what that means and it varies place to place, but at K-State, the home field advantage is as good as anybody."
In the history of the Big 12 Conference, K-State is 145-47 (75.5%) in games when it is the home team. That's the most wins among all active schools in the league. It's just ahead of Oklahoma State at 134-48 (73.6%) and BYU at 130-42 (.756).
Big home wins? There've been plenty.
1997: (20) K-State 36, (14) Texas A&M 17
1998: (2) K-State 40, (11) Nebraska 30
2000: (16) K-State 29, (4) Nebraska 28
2002: (11) K-State 27, (25) USC 20
2002: (12) K-State 58, (21) Iowa State 7
2006: K-State 45, (4) Texas 42
2011: K-State 36, (15) Baylor 35
2012: (4) K-State 55, (15) Texas Tech 24
2012: (7) K-State 42, (23) Texas 24
2019: K-State 48, (5) Oklahoma 41
2022: K-State 41, (6) Oklahoma 34
2022: (22) K-State 48, (9) Oklahoma State 0
"I take a great sense of pride knowing I was one of many in a long tradition who helped pioneer what K-State football has now become," College Football Hall of Famer and former All-Pro Dallas Cowboy Terence Newman says. "The meticulous time and effort coaches and players put in is a majority of the battle. What cannot be overlooked is the fan base and the tremendous advantage they provide as well as their unwavering support."
Now, here it comes. Friday night. No. 14 K-State, 2-0, and No. 20 Arizona, 2-0. A 7 p.m. kickoff on FOX at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Millions of TV viewers. It'll mark the first time since 2014 that a nationally-ranked K-State team has faced a nationally ranked non-conference opponent in Manhattan. In fact, it has occurred just one other time in the last quarter-century. That's when No. 11 K-State outlasted No. 25 USC, 27-20, in a game that then-USC head coach Pete Carroll said had "the most intimidating crowd" he had heard since he had been with the Trojans.
Newman was a part of the reason why. Late in the first half, the star cornerback returned a blocked extra-point attempt 90 yards to the end zone on a play that caused mass hysteria among the nighttime crowd of 49,276 and stadium roared to arguably its highest volume level in history.
"Man, that game was special," Newman says. "We played against the eventual Heisman Trophy winner and a loaded offense and defense. The only other time I heard the stadium as loud was in 1998 when we ended a long streak of losses to Nebraska. It was electric, pure energy coursing through every single fan.
"We played our hearts out and they yelled out theirs."
Friday night — that's when sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson and the 2024 Wildcats will get their opportunity in front of a nationally-televised audience to show what the K-State Wildcats are all about.
"It's a really special opportunity for us, and we get to play at home, and our home crowd is like no other," Johnson says. "It's going to be a lot of fun. I've never played a game this late, but it's going to be a lot of fun, and I'm really excited to go out there and line it up with my guys."
In 2021, K-State head coach Chris Klieman decided to start having the team dropped off for the game in the westside parking lot. Hours before kickoff, the team busses park near the middle of the westside parking lot at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. K-State fans gather around, scream and high-five, and coaches, staff and players walk into the stadium, taking in the sights and the smells of college football.
"I hope FOX goes out in the tailgate lots and says, 'Man, that's important," Klieman says. "That's what we tell recruits all the time: You want to go to a place where football is important. You go out in those tailgate lots, you have a crew out there when those busses come up, and it is electric. It sends chills down your spine to see the enthusiasm and passion for what college football is.
"Then you go into The Bill for the pregame and the students are there, and the band is there. It doesn't get any better than that. That's why a lot of kids come or choose to stay is because football is really important with our students, with our community, with our state, and with our region."
K-State has won 12 of its last 15 home games with its last such victory against a ranked opponent coming with a 48-0 win over No. 9 Oklahoma State on October 29, 2022 — a victory sent fans pouring onto the field to carry off quarterback Will Howard, the star of the game.
"You look at our passionate fan base and have to start there," K-State athletics director Gene Taylor says. "You look in the stands and there's purple and lavender everywhere. Some of our pregame traditions, they're just so cool — the Wabash, the video board, all of it. We're patriotic and say the Pledge of Allegiance, and all of that collectively gives you chill bumps. When the team comes out and our fans go crazy, it's just different."
Now Nelson, a former Consensus All-American and Ring of Honor member who retired after an All-Pro career with the Green Bay Packers, lives with his family outside of Manhattan. He is a season-ticket holder and an ardent fan of his alma mater.
"Honestly, one of the reasons we've moved our seats outside is to be out in the atmosphere," Nelson says. "I want to experience it and be a part of it and contribute to it. The sheer volume of noise can make a huge difference. I want to be a part of the fan base. The family is outside making noise, and we try to get the kids to make noise. I get yelled at because I beat my hand against the wall beside us to make noise. We're a part of it. We love it. It's definitely special."
Taylor will be on the football field prior to kickoff, as the student section and marching band springs to life for another game in the Little Apple.
"This is year number eight for me at K-State and I still get emotional and still get chill bumps," he says. "It doesn't get old."
Time has passed since Gramatica kicked his 65-yard field goal just before halftime in a game against Northern Illinois on September 12, 1998. Gramatica's kick through the uprights in the north end zone was the longest field goal in NCAA history without use of a kicking tee.
Nelson was there. And he has been a part of many big moments inside the stadium, first as a child, then as a player, and now as a fan. Through it all, he has embraced the mystique that wafts across the field — one that is shared by those K-State fans who make this fall weekend pilgrimage to the happiest place on earth.
"I've never walked into that stadium thinking we don't have a chance to win," Nelson says. "There's definitely times I went in there as a player and as a fan, and you do have a weird feeling about it. I remember Coach Klieman's first year beating OU at home. I always give us a shot. I always give us a chance. The passion and pride that the players have and the way they try to defend the home turf, and that chip-on-the-shoulder when you're playing OU, Texas, or somebody like that, you see it unfold. You think, 'This could happen.' There's something unique about it. There's always magic."
He pauses.
"There's something mystical going on inside that stadium."
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