University of Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber and his team have cooked up one of the most exciting seasons in decades. So it’s only appropriate that some Fighting Illini fans are going above and beyond the trite “paint myself orange” recipe for cheering.
For proof, just look courtside at any Illini home game. There, U. of I. sophomore Mark Stephens wears some headgear that probably could get him a job on the spot in the concession stand, or at least as a short-order cook.
It’s an orange Illini helmet with a miniature Weber grill attached to the top with twist ties and hot glue, a salute to coach Weber.
“I actually have to wear a Velcro strap to hold it on,” said Stephens, a pre-dentistry chemistry major. “It’s about 5 pounds.”
Stephens raises money through sponsorships as he cheers on behalf of the Orange Krush Foundation, the campus charity organization–much like someone collecting pledges for a walkathon.
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His helmet is one of five made by Teresa Sturdy, one of his sponsors, who manages the veterinary office of husband Mark in Rochester, Stephens’ hometown near Springfield.
The Sturdys are longtime U. of I. donors and acquaintances of Weber. Teresa actually is an Iowa grad who was dating Mark when he attended the Champaign school. But she has converted to the extent that they have a wing in their home dedicated to all things Illini.
She spent seven hours on each helmet and has given them to son Connor, 11; one of Connor’s friends; and two relatives of Illini players. (She gave a grill, sans helmet, to Weber.)
She tracked down a bunch of the mini-grills at a New Jersey florist. (Teleflora, the flowers-by-phone company, made a deal with Weber to make 200,000 of the now rare grills several years ago as a Father’s Day planter.)
Teresa paints the grills, then paints aquarium stones to resemble orange charcoal. She glues on utensils and hot dogs and makes magnets of other collegiate logos, such as Big Ten, Duke and Kansas, to attach to the grills.
The Weber grill people, based in Palatine, are flattered. In fact, “The Bruce Weber Show” on a Champaign TV station even features a segment called “Grilling With Weber,” in which the coach and a local supermarket rep talk about cooking and give away a grill.
“We share the excitement of the success of the team,” said Nancy Misch, head of legal and licensing at Weber. “It’s a nice thing for the state of Illinois.”