Got your favorite college football team house flag out of the front closet yet?
Fred Hearn sure has. He means business when he hangs his Grambling State University colors on game days. “Oh, I bleed Grambling black and gold!” said Hearn, a South Sider and 1965 grad, one of 500 Chicago area alumni of the Louisiana university. “I’m on my third Grambling flag in 25 years. I put on my Grambling cap and T-shirt and gold gym shoes too. On my street, you know when Grambling has a game.”
House flags, if you hadn’t noticed, sprout from poles in every neighborhood–city or suburbs. U.S. flags, flags of other nations, seasonal flags, NASCAR flags, Winnie-the-Pooh flags–there’s one for every mood.
And for some flag fliers, the mood right now is football.
Gabe Resendez of Round Lake has built a ritual around his Ohio State University banner.
“My flag’s been with me since junior year,” said Resendez (Class of ’98), “and every weekend in football season I go through the same ceremony. On Friday night I take down my U.S. flag and store it properly, with care. By 7 a.m. on Saturday, I’ve raised the Ohio State flag and made certain it’s flying high and true. I must have it up by 7 a.m. too. My wife understands. She went to Georgia and is a Bulldog fan, which makes for a delicate balance in our house, Big 10 versus SEC.”
Jennifer Resendez finds her husband’s fixation “endearing,” though she added, “I enjoy college football. I love my Bulldogs. Our dog is named Archie, after Archie Griffin. But I don’t plan my Saturdays around games the way Gabe does.” (The family Bulldog flag, by the way, was stolen from the front yard last year. A Florida Gators fan is the prime suspect.)
More flag awareness
Jeff Dickman of Grayslake pulls for his University of Wisconsin Badgers. Dickman’s so devoted, in fact, that he started an online flag company (www.collegeflagsandbanners.com) when he couldn’t find a Wisconsin banner in Chicago.
“I wanted a flag, but Target didn’t have any,” he laughed. “Other friends were having the same problem, so I started selling college and pro flags in 1999.
“And after 9/11, when everyone began flying the U.S. flag, I think people became more aware of flagpoles and brackets on their homes. That’s when demand for college and pro flags picked up.”
Dickman has practical advice for flag shoppers: Stick with embroidered and applique nylon flags for outdoor durability. Silk-screened flags work fine, he said, “but an embroidered nylon flag is tough and stands up to the elements better, and they don’t fade as much.
“Georgia, Texas and Florida are top sellers. After that it’s Wisconsin, Michigan and Penn State. When the Bears are winning, we sell a ton of Bears flags.”
But why stop at flags? For that matter, why stop at the front porch?
The school loyalty of Michigan alums Dave and Rosemary Susalla of Northbrook certainly knows no bounds. Their son Michael is the family’s third generation to attend Michigan, with daughter Kaitlin making plans to go in a few years. The Susallas have a Michigan-themed bathroom trimmed in yellow and blue, decorated with bumper stickers and their framed undergrad diplomas.
When Michigan makes it to a bowl game, they display an outdoor arrangement of blue and yellow Christmas lights that form the Michigan block M. Their game day flag hangs suspended from two wires under a second-story portico.
“It’s protected that way,” Dave Susalla explained. “Can’t get wet. I’m still on my original flag, 15 years later.”
Neighborhood rivalries
School rivalries run deep, though instances of dueling house flags appear to be few. (Or at least, the subjects interviewed were quick to play down any mischief or one-upsmanship.) Bill O’Brien, a Notre Dame alumnus from Glen Ellyn who flies the traditional ND flag, said, “The only comments I hear are when Notre Dame loses, and they’re from the guy across the street who went to Iowa and another guy who went to Michigan.”
Purdue backer George Shahnasarian has what he calls a “friendly rivalry” with Big 10 fans in his Downers Grove neighborhood. Shahnasarian installed a freestanding 20-foot flagpole in his yard six months ago and now flies the Purdue flag 24/7, directly beneath his U.S. flag.
“I haven’t been through a football season with the flagpole yet,” he confided. “This is going to be interesting. I can’t wait to see what the Iowa and Illinois and Notre Dame fans pull out.”
The passion is by no means limited to college teams, and it burns even when it’s driven underground.
San Francisco 49ers loyalist Fred Huebner, WSCR sports anchor and Downers Grove resident, keeps his flag in the basement TV room.
“I can’t hang it outside,” he admitted. “My wife always has one of her foo-foo seasonal flags out there. She says with all my sports stuff, the basement looks like Bennigan’s without the brass.”
