Family, friends, and french fries: Tartan tailgating tradition

If you’ve ever glanced up at the East Campus Garage during a Tartan football game — or if you live right across the way in Forbes Beeler — you’ve likely noticed the colorful canopies that line the roof level throughout game time.

“Who is up there?” you may have wondered to yourself. The answer is… who isn’t? The Tartan visited a pre-football-game tailgate before the Tartan’s game against the Bethany Bison (which Carnegie Mellon won, by a lot). I found a delightful collection of parents, siblings, alumni, and “retirees” — players who left the team at some point during their college career — gathered atop the parking garage. They were decked out in Tartan colors, and had set up several backyards’ worth of lawn chairs and grills. The air was thick with cheeseburger smoke and the feeling of a community forged by collective wins and losses.

Kristie Hazard, parent of Tartan junior Lucas Hazard, talked to me about her family’s tailgating tradition. She wore a plaid pin with her name, her son’s name, and his jersey number. Her family is from Baltimore, Maryland, and they drive to Carnegie Mellon or away-game schools so that they never miss a moment. Some families come from as far as New Jersey to support their Tartans.

Hazard expressed the importance of showing up for the team. Non-athlete and non-band students don’t typically attend on-campus games, even though they are free and often fun. Parents, though, see from their students’ perspectives how difficult it can be to play football and be a student here at the same time. They know how much it can mean to the players that someone is there to watch their victories.

We talked about the wide variety of majors studied by Tartan football players. Spectators from opposing teams often taunt the Tartans for their scholarly status, Hazard explained. Coupled with many players’ involvement with Alpha Sigma Phi, part of the Interfraternity Council on campus, a typical Tartan has a lot on their plate.

At the end of each football game, though, they are able to head up to the top of the East Campus Garage and celebrate with their families and friends, who wait eagerly for them under their colorful canopies. Though the tradition is recovering from COVID pandemic days, Hazard says football families are still trying to grow it, inviting parents of Tartan cheerleaders and Kiltie band members. And during more important games, even more canopies fill the roof. They represent a community of care, a subculture of our university that encourages us all to cheer on the Tartans.