The Mycenaean

The dictionary defines “loony” as ‘a crazy person’, which is one of the many ways people describe the beloved students section of Leesville, the Leesville Loonies. 

However, the name Leesville loonies was not always the name used to describe the wonderful student section we know today. 

“I believe it started in 1998 and it started with a group of, I believe, juniors at the time,” said Heather Ange, a Leesville graduate. Ange graduated from Leesville in 2000 and played a role in the creation of today’s beloved tradition, the Leesville Loonies.

Ange was a member of the Leesville women’s volleyball team in 1998. “Volleyball doesn’t get a lot of attention, and we were having a great season that year, and we had a bunch of guy friends that thought they should step up and cheer for us because [volleyball] doesn’t get cheerleaders,” said Ange.

Those guys, as described, were the original Leesville loonies, but went by the name, the ‘wife beaters’ as they would show up to games in white tank tops. The original Leesville Loonies consisted of 5 members, Erik Fitzgerald, Ryan Chaffee, Chris Bowker, Joe Borrelli, and John Mills, and was started by Jason Lowman, who was a freshman at the time.

These 5 guys showed up to the women’s volleyball games to cheer them on and eventually grew a following. 

These creators of the Leesville Loonies had to come up with a new name as they grew, making the name more school friendly. They based their new name off of the Duke University ‘Cameron Crazies’, a name given to the student section at Duke basketball games, and came up with the ‘Leesville Loonies’.

Even though the Loonies began as fans for the women’s volleyball team, the group has been geared towards football and basketball in the past several years. Leesville students do show up to watch other sports, but they don’t create the Leesville Loonies atmosphere as we know them from games other than football and basketball.

“I appreciate the fact that we have such a dedicated student section,… I would like to see them at more games aside from football and basketball, but you know those sports aren’t as popular,” said Bennett Ange, Junior.

Bennett has been a part of the women’s soccer team at Leesville and pointed out that many people don’t attend those games either.

Even with Loonies being at the basketball games, there are only a few rows of students, far different from basketball games here at Leesville in the late 90’s. During the 1997 school year, the Leesville men’s basketball team was exceptional, and continued to be for the following few years. 

During this time, the Loonies were starting off and filled the stands of basketball games. The Loonies were so successful at selling out basketball games, that they were a key contributor to the selling out of Reynold Coliseum in 2001, for a Leesville basketball game against Broughton.

Over time the Leesville Loonies have developed traditions within the loonies. At football games, the Loonies are known for screaming “the home of the PRIDE” during the national anthem, a tradition that resembles the school’s high school spirit. 

Known for their traditions, spirit, and wild craziness by more than just Leesville, in 2009, High School Over Time named the Loonies ‘the Triangles’ best student section’.

The Leesville Loonies are a key milestone in Leesville culture today, but it wouldn’t be possible without 5 students, and a very successful volleyball team in 1998.