Catholic Corner Crazies give pep to the pep squad

Senior Mitchell Krebs exhorts the CCC to cheer during the game against Webb on September 21, 2012, at Knoxville Catholic High School.
Photo by Stephanie Richer

They are not your conventional cheer types. But then, Knoxville Catholic is not your conventional high school. And the Catholic Corner Crazies—a.k.a. the CCC—have been keeping a very unconventional tradition alive at the school.

Yelling taunts, singing songs, and shouting out cheers with funny taglines, the CCC is the high school’s unruly, but good-natured, pep squad.

At any given home game, the far left corner of the stadium is taken over by the CCC, an expressive group of KCHS students of about 200 who are present to lend their voices—quite raucously—in support of the Fighting Irish. Asked why he does it, the group’s leader, senior Mitchell Krebs explained by saying “I love football. I love Catholic.”

And anyone with that same attitude is welcome to join.

“Just show up,” said Mitchell, who attended the Sept. 21 homecoming game against Webb School “painted up” all over his torso and face with a spider motif. He pointed out that each game featured a different theme that set the color scheme for students’ body paint and costumes.

Leaders for the CCC, one for each year, meet to decide that week’s theme. The word then gets passed around the school. Any student can dress up according to the theme and join the loud fun. Mitchell said for the homecoming game against Webb, the theme was “Black Out” because “it’s a big deal.”

Leading the CCC is its own tradition in the Krebs family. Mitchell noted that his older brother, Matt, also was the leader of the CCC during his senior year.

“The CCC started in 2007, Mitchell said, “and we want to keep this going each year, for the students.”

That tradition includes a stuffed white tiger that accompanies the CCC to the games and gets tossed among the students.

Senior Ben Mosrie related the story of the tiger.

“His name is D. Rhodes,” Ben said. “He was named by one of the CCC’s first leaders, who liked an athlete named Desmond Rhodes.”

Ben said the tiger “lived” with the CCC’s leader and is handed down at the end of each year to the next senior to lead the colorful group.

Regardless of the outcome of a football game, the CCC provides an outlet for students to go a little crazy in their support of Knoxville Catholic High School. And at the end of a game, another tradition holds—each member of the CCC takes out the little card they keep on hand with the lyrics of the school’s alma mater, and sings it with gusto.

And then waits to hear what the next game’s theme will be.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *