Bleacher Creatures Run the Field

The youngsters don mini jerseys and sometimes become alumni.

By TCU Magazine

May 12^th, 2022

by Trisha Spence

They run full speed across the football field in a blur of purple. They shout and roar. They’re … a bunch of children.

Before every home game, Bleacher Creatures, a group of children 12 and younger and their chaperones, run the length of the gridiron at Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Former football head coach Gary Patterson concocted the idea.

“Nearly every kid I know doesn’t just want to come to the games. They want to participate, too,” Patterson told TCU Magazine in 2003, several seasons into the budding tradition. “You see the boys dressed up in mini uniforms, and the girls have cheerleading outfits. This was just a way to get them actively involved.”

Nowhere else do kids get this kind of access, said Julie Austin, associate athletics director for marketing.

“Bleacher Creatures is how we start the younger generation to be really enthralled with TCU and our traditions. This is the essential initiation to being a Horned Frog fan for life.”

“Bleacher Creatures is how we start the younger generation to be really enthralled with TCU and our traditions,” Austin said. “This is the essential initiation to being a Horned Frog fan for life.”

Laurel Champagne ’21 was 7 or 8 when her father started taking the family to TCU football games. She said he was looking for something fun to do with the family on weekends. He was also encouraging older daughter Alexandra Champagne ’14, then a junior in high school, to look at colleges.

The younger Champagne said she remembers running the field as a Bleacher Creature and waving at her sister in the student section.

“It was one of those poignant memories I have of TCU,” Laurel said. “It made me feel it was already my school. TCU was the beacon.”

The kids’ entrance into Amon G. Carter Stadium follows a specific order and timing, Austin said.

After its pregame show, the marching band forms a tunnel — really two columns — for the entrances of the spirit squad. As the fog machines and Frog Horn blast, SuperFrog bursts out of the tunnel, and that’s when the Bleacher Creatures run down the east sideline of the field. A second Frog Horn roar cues the football players.

Before every home game, Bleacher Creatures await their turn to run the W.A. "Monty & Tex" Moncrief Field at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Sharon Ellman

Dashing across the football field gives Bleacher Creatures a head start on TCU spirit. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Photo by Michael Clements

In 2006, there was a close call when, in a mistiming of Frog Horn blasts, the football players rushed onto the field too soon after Bleacher Creatures. The pint-size fans were caught in the players’ path, but no one was hurt.

After that, Athletics recruited members of the Army ROTC program to manage the Bleacher Creatures’ run.

“There aren’t many programs around the country who would even try this, for the logistics,” said Jason Byrne, former director of athletics marketing and licensing. “There were times we felt the stress. I can remember being on the radio: ‘We’ve got to get them out of the end zone and back to their seats.’ ”

By 2008, the Bleacher Creatures got a more uniform look. The kids began wearing No. 1 jerseys sponsored by Cook Children’s Health Care System.

“I get goosebumps thinking about the opportunity and impact that many have had just to be engaged with TCU Football and TCU as a whole,” said Byrne, now senior director of corporate and foundation relations at TCU. His three children have been Bleacher Creatures. “It was an honor to be able to carry that tradition forward and provide that experience.”

The family-friendly activity makes children feel included, Champagne said, and leads to pride in game day traditions and a sense of community.

Coming to TCU “felt like an extension of home, which was really good for me,” Champagne said. “You feel like you’re growing up in this family.”

As an alumna, Champagne still looks forward to seeing the Bleacher Creatures. “I know what it’s like to run on that field,” she said. “So I’m just going to cheer for those little kids as loud as I can and make them feel as special as the students made me feel.”

SuperFrog greets Bleacher Creatures before a TCU home game. Photo by Glen E. Ellman

Button Label