Waiting in Wingate
Fans arrive before dawn for game

After arriving at Wingate High School at 6:30 a.m. for tickets Thursday, George Tsosie sits at the front of the line and waits for the doors to open so he can get his favorite seat for the district basetball game between Wingate and Shiprock. Tickets for the game went on sale shortly before lunch time and were sold-out in less than 20 minutes. (Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent)

By Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

WINGATE — At 6 a.m. Thursday the crowd began to grow.

By the time tickets went on sale at noon, the line was around the building. It must be playoff time on the Navajo Reservation.

"This is called 'March Madness,' and it is here at Wingate High School," Wingate head coach Al Martinez.

Even though the crowd had grown to around 25 people by the time Martinez said he arrived to school Thursday morning, Martinez said that he was not surprised that some people, including several Shiprock fan, would wait in the pre-dawn cold just to get tickets to a basketball game.

"These people love their basketball here," he said. "And I think the fans got their money's worth."

By the time noon rolled around at Wingate, all 1,200 tickets for the game which did not start until 7 p.m. were sold out and the lucky people who were able to get their hands on tickets began to line up at the front door for the long wait to get inside.

The fans for the game were not allowed into the gym until 5:30 p.m., but an hour before the game began the bleachers were already packed into the smallest gym in the 1-3A district.

As game time rolled around there was still several dozen people outside the gym waiting for a chance to get tickets from someone who was already in the game and had extra tickets. On the other side of the door, Wingate workers used clickers to keep track of how many people entered the gym to make sure that they did not exceed the capacity limit and create a fire hazard.

Martinez, a coach at Wingate for several years now, said he was not surprised at the long line, or the amount of time people were willing to wait to get a chance to see the Wingate Bears face off with Shiprock for a chance to go to state.

"This has been the history of Wingate, especially in boys basketball," he said. "This has been part of a proud tradition of over 36 years at Wingate."

Martinez said that Wingate fans are very loyal to their team, and that it has become part of the culture.

Also, Martinez said that it says something about the fans of basketball on the reservation that there were no major incidents reported at the game on Thursday night.

"We were real happy to have a crowd this big. It's a testament that the fans are able to co-exist, even with the intense rivalry." he said.

With several incidents recently in the news of unruly fans and players around the sports world, Martinez said that he was pleased that there were no problems at the game.

"There were no incidents," he said. "The crowd was real vocal and excited, but once it was done it was done. I was real happy with the crowd's behavior."

Martinez said that, even with big rivalries such as Shiprock-Wingate, there are not many reports of problems at games because the fans are rather peaceful.

And Wingate is not the only school known to fill gyms. Recently, Rehoboth and Ramah had to move a playoff game to the larger Gallup Catholic gym to meet the needs of the fans. And Rehoboth and Navajo Pine also filled the Gallup Catholic gym recently for a playoff game too big to be held at either of their home courts. Last year there were reports of people camping out over night at the Chinle Community Center for a chance to see the Chinle boys play a playoff game at home.