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Canton
resident Allen Karon serves as Brandeis University's resident 'superfan'
By Jeffrey Pickette
Citizen Staff
Donning a
short-sleeved navy t-shirt with the words “DEIS! DEIS! DEIS!”
vertically printed on the front and “I’M ALLEN” printed across
the back, Canton resident Allen Karon, affectionately known to
the Brandeis University community as “Superfan Allen,” has been
a mainstay at the Waltham school’s men’s and women’s home
basketball games this decade.
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Allen Karon cheers for his
favorite team
David Sheppard-Brick
Photo |
With both the
men’s and women’s teams known as the Judges — the school is
named after former Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis —
Karon, a 1991 graduate of Brandeis, frequently came to games as
a student decked out in a black judge’s robe and a
white-powdered Parliamentary-style wig, with a gavel in hand.
His get-up for
games might be slightly toned down these days, but his passion
for Brandeis basketball is not. Karon finds a spot on the
bleachers near half-court and stands the entire game trying to
motivate both the crowd and the team.
Even though
Brandeis competes in Division III collegiate athletics, Karon
tries to bring the Division-I atmosphere to home games.
While both the
men’s and women’s teams are on defense, his chants of “Hands up,
defense!” and “D-d-d-defense!” reverberate throughout the court.
On offense Karon goes with a simple “Let’s go Brandeis!” After a
successful free throw he lets out an excited “Whoosh!”
“Allen’s
presence is one of the things that make Brandeis basketball so
much fun,” Adam Levin, Brandeis University’s sports information
director wrote in an e-mail to the
Citizen. “His
passion and devotion to the game, the team and — most
importantly — the Brandeis players is always on display, and
everyone here appreciates it.”
Following his
1991 graduation, Karon attended games the following season to
see the newly constructed basketball court. After a brief
hiatus, he returned in the 2000-2001 season and has been a
fixture at games ever since.
Karon finds
the close-knit nature of a Division-III basketball program
appealing.
“These
athletes are literally the people that go pro in something other
than sports, as the NCAA would say,” Karon said. “If you’re a
student, these are your fellow classmates … you see them in
class and they’re your friends.”
With the
women’s basketball team making it to three-straight NCAA
Division III tournaments and the men’s team earning two
consecutive berths, fan support has swelled in recent years. A
student cheering section known as “the jury” formed in the
2006-2007 season and has supplemented Karon at home games.
“It makes it
easier for me when you have a student [cheering section],” Karon
said. “I don’t want to be the one to do all the work.”
Last season,
with both teams making the NCAA Tournament, Karon was faced with
a scheduling dilemma: travel to Union, New Jersey to watch the
women in action or stay local and see the men host a tournament
game for the first time in three decades.
“You don’t get
a tournament at home every day, so I had to stay home,” Karon
said.
Karon was
treated to victories over Lasell College and Bowdoin College
before a combined crowd of 3,300. With the wins, the men’s team
earned a spot in the “Sweet 16” in Plattsburgh, New York.
Karon made the
near six-hour trek to the small city located near the Vermont
and Canadian borders as Brandeis topped host Plattsburgh State,
but fell to Amherst College in the “Elite Eight,” one game shy
of a berth in the “Final Four.”
“It was
incredible,” Karon said of the trip.
Traveling is
nothing new to Karon, who as a senior at Brandeis traveled to
“home” games for the men and women at nearby Babson and Regis,
respectively, while the new home court was under construction.
Brandeis
competes in the geographically diverse University Athletic
Association Conference with schools in the Boston, New York,
Rochester, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, and
Atlanta metropolitan areas. With the exception of Atlanta and
Cleveland, Karon has traveled to road games in these cities
multiple times.
When Karon is
unable to make the road trip, he listens to broadcasts or
watches streaming video of the games on the internet.
Widely
recognized around the Division III basketball community, Karon
has been featured not only in the Brandeis student paper,
The Justice,
but has been spotlighted in the student paper at the University
of Chicago as well. After the women’s team won the Eastern
College Athletic Conference championship in 2004, Karon was able
to cut down a piece of the net.
“In short, it
was very, very sweet,” Karon said of cutting down the net.
When he
graduated in 1991, Karon was honored by then men’s basketball
coach Kevin O’Brien as the “number one basketball fan,” a title
he still arguably holds today.
“Not only is
it as fun as it was in my student days, it’s actually even
better,” Karon said of attending games. “Brandeis basketball is
doing things that I never could have imagined them [doing] when
I was a student and that in itself is exciting.”
February 5, 2009
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