It was a normal Saturday matinee on Feb. 3 for the Oakland men’s basketball team as they took on Cleveland State. Until it wasn’t.
A few minutes after the ball was tipped, in came the Oakland Swim and Dive team, filing down to the front of the student section. In they came wearing skin-tight swimsuits and speedos. In they came with “OU PRIDE!” spelled out across the men’s chests up front. In they came with a razor and a bag… wait, is that right?
“I saw them walk in with a bag, and I didn’t know what was happening,” Buru Naivalurua, a men’s basketball player, said. “When Cleveland State got on the line and started shaving his head, I was like, ‘What’s even happening?’ I was so confused.”
As Cleveland State’s Tevin Smith stepped up to the free throw, he stared into a student section of barely dressed swimmers and divers, screaming and shouting for him to miss. In the midst of it all, out came the razor. And the bag.
And the hair of one Ian Allen began to fall.
Smith would make his first but miss his second, much to the delight of the Oakland faithful, especially the Swim and Dive team.
As a whole, Cleveland State shot 8-12 on free throws in the half, with two misses coming during haircuts.
Oakland would go on to win the game 83-71. Shortly after, a video of the haircut went viral, being posted on Bleacher Report, Barstool Sports and even SportsCenter.
So, why did the Swim and Dive team decide to come to show their support in such an emphatic way? It all started with a conversation between head men’s basketball coach Greg Kampe and head swim and dive coach Mitch Alters.
Amidst a stellar season, coach Kampe was looking for ways to get more people in seats for home games. He reached out to the other coaches at Oakland, imploring them to get their athletes to come to the games and support each other.
Coach Alters was more than happy to oblige, so long as the basketball team would come to a swim meet.
“When Kampe and his Director of Operations, Colin Shannon, approached me about getting our teams back out for each other’s games, I was all for it,” Alters said.
The stage was set. On Jan. 19, Oakland Swim and Dive hosted Saginaw Valley State University and Hope for a meet.
The meet started and seemed as though it would be like any other. Until it wasn’t.
In came men’s basketball, shirtless, with “OAKLAND PRIDE!!” painted across their chests. In came men’s basketball with black and gold face masks. In came men’s basketball with an Oakland flag, towels and unlimited energy.
Coach Kampe himself provided the money for the face masks and paint. The team was all in on supporting Swim and Dive.
“There’s nothing better than athletes supporting athletes,” Reagan Reetz, a sophomore swimmer, said. “Every single one of us knows how amazing it feels when the energy is high. The energy they contributed to the atmosphere that night was contagious and could be felt on the pool deck without a doubt.”
Oakland Swim and Dive would go on to dominate their meet. Now, it was their turn to crash the party.
It is an Oakland Swim and Dive tradition to go to other teams’ games in just their suits. Coach Alters himself used to take part in the festivities when he swam at Oakland. After seeing what the basketball team did, swim and dive knew they had to upstage them. But Coach Alters had nothing to do with the haircuts.
It was Ian Allen who came up with the idea to do the head shaving.
“It wasn’t solely my idea to get my hair cut. It was me, Alex Lakin and Joey Countryman,” he said. “We decided to return the favor by suiting up and shaving our heads.”
The rest is now Oakland athletics history.
Naivalurua, talking about the basketball team’s antics versus the swim and dive team’s, said, “It was 100 percent a response to what we did at their meet. I think they did it better if we are being real.”
One thing the team didn’t anticipate happening was 14-year-old fan Gaige Lewis joining in on the fun. He volunteered to get his haircut as well.
“I have no regret,” Lewis said. “I would do it again if someone from the Swim and Dive team were to text me next season and invite me.”
Not bad for your first time going to an Oakland game.
Reetz was half-tempted to get her haircut as well but decided against it.
“The energy was so contagious, it was hard not to consider it,” she said.
As both the Swim and Dive and men’s basketball seasons come to an end, both teams will need student support to achieve their goals. If this hair-cut sensation proved anything, it’s that college students, armed with enough motivation and energy, can come up with some truly ingenious ways to support their athletics.
Oakland Pride, indeed.