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has had quite an effect on people in North Carolina. My family has lived in Pinehurst, NC for 20+ years and I've been down many, many times. Occassionally I'd see an AppSt or WCU or NCA&T car sticker or t-shirt, but we just got back from Thanksgiving down there and I saw AppSt stuff (on people or cars) every place I went. At the grocery store, the gas station, the Canes hockey game, the golf course... Is it just that more alumni are into it, or are they actually getting fans that aren't alums?

Both, really. I used to work about an hour from Boone and you would occasionally see people who didn't go to App wearing a sweatshirt or something like that, but since 2005, you see a whole lot more than that. The alumni are getting more into it, too. Before, if you wore App gear, people would still ask you who you pull for - UNC, NCSU or Duke. Now, you get high fives and stuff when you wear it. It's popular and our administration is doing a good job of capitalizing on it.

ASU did pick up a lot of fans who adopted the school following the Michigan win and NC's, but most of what you saw is ASU grads who have a renewed pride in their school. With the majority of nearly 100,000 living alumni located in NC, that translates into a lot of Applachian merchandise on the streets.

http://www.alumni.appstate.edu/AlumniMap/framemap.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can see the distribution of alumni here. Not surprisingly, Asheville/Raleigh/Greensboro/Winston-Salem/Charlotte are the highest concentrations. Moore county where Pinehurst is has over 500 alums.

The NCAA had a canned highlight at the Bison game on the 4 video screens about the App St win over Michigan being one of the the biggest upsets in NCAA history. They also had a trivia question about Georgia Southerns 3 back to back titles.

We introduced the state of North Carolina to football.

I don't know if there is any correlation, but I have been to many wrestling tourneys here in PA and seen kids wearing ASU wrestling shirts and shorts.

BlueHen86 wrote:I don't know if there is any correlation, but I have been to many wrestling tourneys here in PA and seen kids wearing ASU wrestling shirts and shorts.

Strong wrestling program and I'd imagine those kids came to the summer camps.

As a senior at App I have noticed a lot of big changes over the past few years here. Campus has simply exploded! It always has been beautiful up here but we are getting new norm buildings, class rooms, we received recently a whole new college (nursing), a lot of refurbishments, new sports facilities, a huge new cafeteria, tons of incoming applications and, being an out of state student, I'm very proud to see that we are getting out of state students from all over the country and the world. 4 years ago I felt like I was one of the few out of state kids (Alexandria, VA) but now I have classes with kids from Connecticut, Maine, New York, Illinois, Florida, Wisconsin, Cali, Sweden, Australia, and others to name a few. So many new classroom buildings and dorms have been put up during my time here. It's really an exciting time for the school and I have yet to see any slow down in momentum. I have always been proud of App State even when I first applied but even more so now. The football team, school administration, and alumni have done A LOT of amazing things here. Winning a national title or not this playoff season it is still truly great to be a mountaineer.

Yeah, App has exploded as a brand in North Carolina. Kind of helps that we're the best football program in the state.

Heck, the Charlotte Observer did a ranking in Spring 2005 of the football programs in North and South Carolina and App was #1 over all the FBS teams. And this was BEFORE the National Titles and Michigan.

It was like the sleeping giant and woke up and got injected with steroids.

Also, about the wrestling question. App hosts the largest wrestling camp in the country each summer.

not to mention App has the best Cross Country and Track programs in the conference and their Basketball team is fairly competitive

89Hen wrote:has had quite an effect on people in North Carolina. My family has lived in Pinehurst, NC for 20+ years and I've been down many, many times. Occassionally I'd see an AppSt or WCU or NCA&T car sticker or t-shirt, but we just got back from Thanksgiving down there and I saw AppSt stuff (on people or cars) every place I went. At the grocery store, the gas station, the Canes hockey game, the golf course... Is it just that more alumni are into it, or are they actually getting fans that aren't alums?

You're correct. AS an alum, I always noticed a car with a sticker or someone sporting App gear as it was rare. Now, especially in my neck of the woods (Asheville area), App gear is catching up Tennessee, Clemson & UNC gear.

Still, I had to be impressed when, a couple of years ago, I was walking in little Fletcher park on my lunch hour sporting a copper & gold Montana shirt. This little hottie walked by & yelled "Go Griz" after she passed me....impressive, both the spirit & the girl...

I see my fair share of App State stuff here in Conway, SC

DKHardee wrote:I see my fair share of App State stuff here in Conway, SC

Myrtle Beach is the "Redneck Riviera" - lots of folks pass through there.

Appaholic wrote:

89Hen wrote:has had quite an effect on people in North Carolina. My family has lived in Pinehurst, NC for 20+ years and I've been down many, many times. Occassionally I'd see an AppSt or WCU or NCA&T car sticker or t-shirt, but we just got back from Thanksgiving down there and I saw AppSt stuff (on people or cars) every place I went. At the grocery store, the gas station, the Canes hockey game, the golf course... Is it just that more alumni are into it, or are they actually getting fans that aren't alums?

You're correct. AS an alum, I always noticed a car with a sticker or someone sporting App gear as it was rare. Now, especially in my neck of the woods (Asheville area), App gear is catching up Tennessee, Clemson & UNC gear.

Still, I had to be impressed when, a couple of years ago, I was walking in little Fletcher park on my lunch hour sporting a copper & gold Montana shirt. This little hottie walked by & yelled "Go Griz" after she passed me....impressive, both the spirit & the girl...

Funny, I was in a local (Mooresville, NC) establishment recently and the band was beginning to set up for the evening. As I was walking out I noticed a girl with the band wearing a Griz sweatshirt. I gave a loud "Go Griz" as I walked by. I could hear her turn to the other members in her party and proclaim, "see?, he knows". Good stuff.