Tailgating remains a favorite football tradition throughout the decades

Bob Dean still remembers tailgating as a UCLA student in the 1980s.

He and his friends would unload their easy-up tent, an ice chest and a couple of folding chairs at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturdays in the fall. That was, until 1982 – Dean’s sophomore year – when UCLA football relocated to the Rose Bowl.

“That was a huge deal because no one really liked the Coliseum and no one liked tailgating there,” Dean said. “The Rose Bowl was just awesome – it has the huge golf course, and it felt like it was our own stadium. I think people took to it right away.”

Dean said while the big screens and portable grills he sees in Pasadena today are more extravagant than his own equipment when he was a student, the spirit of tailgating remains the same.

The ’85 graduate still shows up to the Rose Bowl every game day as a tuba player in the UCLA alumni band, which assembles in Lot H before kickoff to play “The Sons of Westwood” and other classic fight songs. The band is joined by the cheer squad for a portion of its performance each week and then heads to the Court of Champions to play for fans entering the game.

While Dean said he enjoys entertaining fans, his favorite part of the experience is catching up with old friends from school – some of whom drive to the games from places as far as Fresno, California, and Las Vegas.

“It just makes the whole going to the games a lot more fun and enjoyable, (and) it gives you a chance to socialize with your friends, and you actually meet other alumni,” Dean said. “It’s an opportunity to see these guys that I normally wouldn’t see.”

While the alumni band is one of the first groups to arrive at the Rose Bowl on Saturdays, there are already pom poms and other merchandise laid throughout the stands when the band arrives.

Den Operations – an on-campus organization that manages the student section – leaves Westwood about seven hours before kickoff to get the stands ready for UCLA students.

After the preliminary setup, though, the club members lay out a tailgate of their own.

Camina Balmores, a third-year physiology student and Den Operations’ director of social media, said the group used to greet the UCLA football players at the main entrance of the Rose Bowl, which was a good way to showcase its spirit in front of other fans.

“That was a really great spot for us to set an example because when the team would come, we’d be up there cheering and sometimes (Bruin Fan Alliance) would give us bells,” Balmores said. “(It was) just usually making a lot of noise at that aspect during the tailgate and just having a lot of fun.”

This season, Den Operations has hosted its own tailgates instead of attending those put on by Bruin Fan Alliance – an organization that strives to connect UCLA alumni, current students and administration – in order to focus more on building relationships within the club.

Balmores said the members usually listen to music and play games such as cornhole and Spike Ball to release some energy before the game.

“Especially for football, you’re getting ready to watch a four-hour game,” Balmores said. “Even though there’s times when you’re having fun in the game, it’s good beforehand to let loose, be with your friends.”

But for UCLA students without organized transportation to the Rose Bowl, the tailgating situation is a bit different.

Third-year statistics student Nate Barrett said he has been tailgating regularly since his freshman year, when he would line up early to catch the first Rooter Bus from campus. But Barrett said he still wouldn’t get to the game with enough time to tailgate.

“It was cool that they had (the Rooter Bus), like they had set transportation, but the problem with it was that they went way too late,” Barrett said. “We got there only an hour or 45 minutes before the game started so there wasn’t time to tailgate.”

Barrett and a group of friends now drive to the Rose Bowl with a grill, food and games to spend a few hours outside the stadium before kickoff. He said the group enjoys hanging out together, talking about the upcoming game and listening to music.

The longtime sports fan described UCLA tailgates as quaint in comparison to others he has been to and said the only times he’s seen the Rose Bowl get intense were against USC each year.

“Its potential says it could be better,” Barrett said. “But we have a lot of things against us, like our location. … I would say (tailgating at the Rose Bowl is) OK, but it could definitely be better.”

Barrett also pointed out that tailgating can make a game the Bruins aren’t expected to win more fun. He said he has left most of this year’s games early, since the Bruins had fallen victim to a large deficit before the fourth quarter even started.

While he and his friends might not stay until the end, they always arrive hours in advance.

“It brings more people together when they’re in an environment like that versus just going right from traveling to going into the game – that’s kind of not as fun, not as intensive,” Barrett said. “That’s what tailgating adds – togetherness and intensity.”

Balmores and Barrett listed their favorite tailgating activities as cornhole and grilling, respectively – two activities that Dean said weren’t common pregame pastimes in the 1980s.

But both students still agreed with the tuba player that the best part of tailgating is the culture it promotes among Bruin fans.