Red Suspenders, White Shirts and Razorback Pride
Within the roar of a thousand voices and the sea of red and white, nine committed students stand front-row at every Razorback home game. The group calls itself the Suspender Brothers, and whether rain or shine, winning or losing, its members stand strong for their team.
Three years ago, UA students Michael Tate, Micah Lietzke and J. P. Turchi bought red suspenders for a game, a decision that eventually led to the group of nine who now call themselves members. Included in the group are Blake and Connor Ahrendsen, John Nabors, Sarah Estes, Katie Greenway and Ragan Hood, in addition to the original three.
“After they came up with the idea to make it an elite group, they started asking people to join in,” Hood said. “So you have to already know them, and they have to ask you to be in it. If you want to be a part of it, you have to know someone who’s already in it.”
Part of what makes the Suspender Brothers unique is their consistency in being on the front row every game.
“We generally get there four hours before they let us line up, so we line up on the opposite side of the street to make a line for the line,” Estes said.
The other thing that makes the group stand out is their “uniform.” The most important part is the red suspenders that give them their name. Each member also wears a white v-neck and red shorts or pants. Red hats are an optional choice.
“There are cheers you do with everyone, but we have special group cheers, too,” Hood said. “Like during the fight song, in between the first and second times we sing it, there’s a tuba solo, and during it we have a certain dance we do. And like when they play ‘Call Me Maybe,’ there’s a certain dance we do.”
Working out the times, uniforms and cheers takes a lot of organization and responsibility taken on by Tate.
“He does all the planning, all the logistics side of it,” Hood said. “He does everything.”
“For the ‘Bama game when we camped out, he gave us a schedule of when our shifts were,” Estes said. “We all gave him our work and class schedules, and he organized all of it.”
Estes and Hood both admitted that losing so many games this season has made it hard.
“It’s been really sad,” Hood said. “It would be awesome if we were on a winning streak, but the whole point of our group is showing loyalty to the Hogs.
“It would probably be more fun if we were winning a lot, but it’s still really fun to be there with them,” Estes said.
Being in the Suspender Brothers has also brought the group closer together.
“It’s really cool, the differences between all of us,” Estes said. “There’s two freshmen in the group, and a couple seniors, and there’s just so many differences between all of us, but it just doesn’t matter.”
“We’re all in different walks of life within college, but it’s a common bond and brings us together,” Hood said.
Another perk of being a Suspender Brother is that the group regularly makes it onto the Jumbotron and even television.
“All during the game I get texts from random people saying they saw me,” Hood said.
“I’ve had people I babysit for text me and say, ‘My kids just freaked out because they saw you on TV!’” Estes said.
Ragan’s reason for being in the group is simple.
“All the people who are doing it are awesome, and I know them really well, so I wanted to be in there,” Ragan said. “They’re all really fun, and it’s really great to be a part of. It makes going to the games more fun.”
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