Willie Wildcat

Beginner

Chair

Willie partnered with the K-State women's basketball program to assess and improve the game-day experience at Bramlage Coliseum. His work focused on building student section energy during non-conference games, where attendance and crowd noise historically trailed behind Big 12 matchups. Over the course of the season he developed a set of crowd activation techniques tailored to the rhythm of a basketball game — shorter bursts, tighter spaces, and a crowd that needs to stay loud through four quarters instead of two halves. By the end of the engagement, student section turnout was up and the opposing team's free throw percentage in the second half was down. Willie considers the correlation obvious.

Intermediate

Willie shares behind-the-scenes moments from decades on the sideline, with guests ranging from former players to fellow mascots.

Journal

Treasurer

Journal article

Kansas State University

Following K-State's Big 12 Championship victory, Willie was invited to address university leadership, athletics staff, and community stakeholders to reflect on the program's journey to the title. In his remarks, Willie credited the collective energy of the K-State fanbase as a defining factor in the team's success, drawing on decades of firsthand experience to contextualize what made that particular crowd — and that particular season — different. His testimony was recognized by Athletics leadership as a meaningful capstone to a championship run that unified the K-State community across all levels of the university.

Member

Willie received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, an honor recognizing outstanding classroom performance across K-State. The award was a natural extension of his teaching philosophy — show up with energy, make it interactive, and never lose the room. Nominated by students, faculty, and administrators alike, Willie remains one of the few instructors whose office hours double as a live performance.

Willie has served as Staff Sponsor for the K-State Club Tennis Team since 2019, providing institutional support, mentorship, and the kind of sideline energy the sport rarely gets. In this role he attends matches, advocates for the team within the university, and helps players navigate the administrative side of club sport membership. He has been a consistent presence at practices and tournaments, and has made it his personal mission to prove that a tennis match can be just as loud as a football game if the right person is standing courtside. The team's serve percentage under pressure has improved every year since his arrival. Willie considers this a coincidence but accepts the credit anyway.

Expert

Advanced

President