THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130673
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Welcome to Deep Creek Stadium, the only place in Hampton Roads where a motorcyclist can roar through the goal posts in front of 7,000 people and not get arrested.
When Indian River invades nationally-ranked Deep Creek for a showdown of unbeaten Southeastern District football powers tonight, the Braves will be facing more than just a great team.
Deep Creek home games are an assault on the senses, a blend of P.T. Barnum and Vince Lombardi viewed through purple-tinted lenses.
When the 5-0 Hornets charge through the goal posts onto the field, they will be led by girls volleyball coach Todd Revell driving a $16,000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle with passenger John Williams hanging on for life and waving the school flag.
Up in the press box, public address announcer Larry Baldwin will drape a purple cape out the window, a subtle reminder that the Swamp Jank is in the house. More on that later.
This will all be done to the ear-splitting blasts of the Hornets' notorious spiritwagon. The custom-built noisemaker features a genuine train horn and a police siren.
``We're trying to provide as much entertainment as we can,'' Deep Creek athletic director Carl Stone said. ``When you pay $4 to get in we like to think you get $4 worth of football and a few other things as well.''
Three weeks ago, when Deep Creek played host to Granby, the game ball was delivered into the stadium by two parachutists.
``What a great feeling,'' said Steve Verdi, a senior guard and linebacker. ``You only see that on TV.''
Purple Pandemonium is the brainchild of Hornets coach Jerry Carter.
``I attribute it all to him,'' Deep Creek principal Nat Hardee said.
Added Stone, ``He's 25 years ahead of his time when it comes to marketing high school football.''
Where does Carter find his inspiration?
``I guess I'm just crazier than everybody else,'' he said. ``It starts at the top and filters down.''
Deep Creek's love affair with football dates back to 1922. It is one of the last communities in South Hampton Roads to be reshaped through suburban growth and alumni loyalty remains strong.
At least three restaurants honor the football team each week and employees at the George Washington Highway branch of Central Fidelity Bank are wearing old Hornets jerseys today.
``I had a lady two years ago write me a letter from Florida,'' Carter said. ``She explained that she was a Deep Creek graduate and wanted her son to go to Deep Creek.''
The son was Henry Martin, now one of the Hornets' starting linebackers.
``There was a ready-made reservoir of support here,'' Carter said. ``All it needed was something to get it going.''
That something was a 13-1 record and a state runner-up finish last year.
One manifestation of the Hornets' support is the Swamp Jank, a sideline mascot who made his debut during last year's playoffs and looks like a reject from Shock Theater.
Baldwin, an English teacher at Deep Creek and one of Carter's closest friends, wanted to do something to help the team and was inspired by the school's close proximity to the Dismal Swamp.
``We were talking about a name and somebody suggested Swamp Thing,'' he said. ``Sue Davidson, the orchestra teacher, came up with Jank. It's a slang word everybody uses and doesn't mean anything special.''
The Swamp Jank dresses in purple and wields a purple stick with a plastic skull on top that he shakes like a witch doctor.
``He gets us hyped up and never lets us get down,'' said Andre Thomas, a senior defensive end.
The spiritwagon is a new creation. The Hornets fired a cannon after touchdowns last season, but laws against the use of firearms in some communities prompted officials to find a safer, if not quieter, alternative.
A contest was held to name the new contraption and Wesley Barnett, a Deep Creek student, submitted Purple Thunder. Barnett won two tickets to every home game, a Deep Creek hat and a T-shirt celebrating the Hornets' national ranking, according to USA Today.
Norfolk Southern donated the train horn and the police auxiliary provided the siren. Indusco Corporation assembled the wagon and did the wiring, Hardee said.
The train horn at full power reaches 135 decibels, the siren about 120. A jet at takeoff hits 100 decibels and 120 is considered painful.
``We only crank it up to one-fourth or one-third power,'' Baldwin said.
That was loud enough to get it banned from Harbor Park before last week's game against Lake Taylor.
``When that whistle and siren go off you get a rush through your entire body,'' Verdi said.
Thomas concurs.
``We like hear it,'' he said. ``Because they normally blow it when we're doing good.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photos by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/ The Virginian-Pilot
The Swamp Jank, English teacher Larry Baldwin away from the football
field, pumps up the crowd at a Thursday afternoon pep rally at Deep
Creek.<
The Swamp Jank revs up th Deep Creek crowd in front of Purple
Thunder, the spirit wagon, which at full power is louder than a jet
at takeoff. "We only crank it (the wagon) up to one-fourth or
one-third power," Larry Baldwin, a.k.a. the Swamp Jank, said.
by CNB