(Sports feature) Beware the Orange Krush You think Illinois' basketball team is dominating? Check out these fans

Thursday March 17 2005

James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer

It's Feb. 25, 2003, and the 18th-ranked Fighting Illini are battling the fiercely hated Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall.

The Hoosiers are losers in six of their last nine games, but they just won't give up.

The Illini are up by nine at the half, but only because of a late run. This is unacceptable. In the audience, sophomore John Malysiak of Wheaton wants total annihilation.

As halftime drills begin, it's time for Malysiak to take advantage of his 6-foot-7 frame and his seat just behind the Hoosier basket. The target? Malysiak's most hated Hoosier, Tom Coverdale.

Malysiak launches a barrage of insults at the guard that would send anyone with a fragile ego into therapy.
Coverdale misses his next lay-up, slams the ball to ground, turns directly to Malysiak and, with a face as red as his hair, screams, "Shut up!"

The Hoosier guard goes on to score only nine points, his team shoots a dismal 32 percent in the second half, and Indiana loses by 16.

Meet the Orange Krush. It's one of the most feared and respected student cheering sections in college basketball, with a membership whose dedication goes way beyond standing in line for seats hours before a game.

For Malysiak, the Krush is also a family tradition. His father, Ed, was instrumental in the Krush's founding.

The Illini head into the NCAA tournament today with the highest of expectations. Its road to the Final Four will run through Indianapolis, Chicago and St. Louis, all close enough for the team to count on the Orange Krush to fulfill a mission that began in 1975.

That was the year Lou Henson took over as coach. Wins were rare, and fan enthusiasm couldn't have drowned out the buzz of a fly.

"Go look at yearbooks from back then, and you'll see basketball crowds of about 4,000 people," said Ed Malysiak, who worked in U of I Associate Dean Willard Broom's office at the time. "You could hear the echo of the ball bouncing throughout Assembly Hall."

Henson wanted to start a student group to drum up excitement at games and get the home crowd cheering. That brought him to Broom's office. Back then, Malysiak was a fraternity adviser for U of I. He got the assignment.
He immediately turned to the campus' large Greek population to recruit just a few students to buy some tickets and regularly attend the games.

"We couldn't get it done," recalled Malysiak, now a financial adviser living in Wheaton. "Nobody had an interest in Illini basketball at that time."

Henson agreed to the only backup plan Malysiak could think of: give the tickets away.

Each fraternity received two free tickets to each home game as long as members promised to show up faithfully. They did, and the Orange Crunch was born.

That's right. Orange Crunch was the original name of the Illini student cheering section, Malysiak said.
It wasn't until the soft drink Orange Crush gained popularity that school officials changed the name. When they couldn't get the soda company to become a sponsor, the university changed the first letter of the last word, and the Orange Krush began its reign of terror on opposing teams.

"Once students were able to see there was a group of kids down there on the floor, practically in the game, having fun, we didn't have to give the tickets away anymore," Malysiak said.

The Krush now numbers more than 1,100 students - the most ever - and fills three Krush-only sections of seats surrounding the court. Perhaps even more impressive is that most of them are freshmen.

Even now, there is charity associated with the Krush. In order to be a member, a student must commit to getting pledges of $1 to $3 per three-pointer, depending on where the student wants to sit. The Illini sunk 269 three-point shots in 30 games, meaning the Orange Krush will raise a record amount, possibly as much as $500,000, to spread among local charities and two athletic scholarships.

"There are not very many student groups who do as much as the Krush does for the community," said Illini Athletic Department spokesman Kent Brown. "People really want to be involved, and somehow everyone seems to attach themselves to the Orange Krush."

The students are getting the job done in Assembly Hall as well. The Illini have tallied the best home record in men's college basketball, 77-3, during the past five seasons.

John Malysiak, now a junior majoring in political science, said his Illini passion goes way back.

"I grew up loving Illinois basketball since I was 2 years old," he said. "I know probably more than is healthy about the team. Growing up, watching the fans on TV and seeing how close they get to players at the games, I just knew I was going to be (a part of) Orange Krush."

Whether they're doing the roller-coaster-motion cheer, or screaming "Chris Rock! Chris Rock!" every time lookalike Wisconsin guard Kammron Taylor touches the ball, John Malysiak and the rest of the Orange Krush are ready to create a river of orange from Indianapolis to St. Louis.