Darryl Patteson admits it was a disaster. It appeared the legacy of Otto’s Army would be ruined by its inability to handle a task that most children perfect in elementary school. Patteson’s organization barely had taken its first steps when it tripped up trying to form a line.

It happened during Senior Day for the Syracuse men’s basketball team in 2006, the last home game for SU fan-favorite Gerry McNamara. Many students arrived hours before gates opened for the contest against Villanova in hopes of grabbing a front-row seat to view McNamara’s final performance.

Otto’s Army had come up with a process that intended to organize students who camped outside early for the game. The problem was the group only had a couple of previous home games to work out the kinks in the process, and nothing prepared the fledgling organization for the record-setting crowd.

Chaos ensued, ignited by frustrated students who were new to the line procedures. Patteson, the president of Otto’s Army, described the day as a train wreck.

‘It was so frustrating last year because Otto’s Army just started and we were just starting to get the wheels turning and (then the Senior Day incident happened),’ Patteson said.

More than a year has passed since the event. The line process seems accepted by the SU population. The group overcame its first major challenge. That in itself has turned into a microcosm accounting for why Otto’s Army has developed into one of the fastest-growing organizations on campus.

It started as a pipe dream for Patteson and many others. The Otto’s Army founders noticed the student section at the Carrier Dome had lost the imposing luster it once contained.

Patteson recalled the university had ‘major school spirit issues.’

The apparent problem was the absence of communication among students, who attended SU sporting events.

‘Otto’s Army needed to be created just because there needed to be some more focused way that students could get there requests across,’ Megan Dilks, Otto’s Army lacrosse chair, said. ‘We needed a little bit more organized means of expressing our opinions expressing what we wanted to happened at the Dome.’

The Student Association unanimously passed a resolution on Feb. 13, 2006, recognizing Otto’s Army as an official organization, a subcommittee of the Traditions Committee. It took little convincing for SA to go for the idea.

‘Even people who are members of the staff who don’t go to sporting events are still interested in seeing what this group can do,’ Patteson said. ‘They like the premise and want to see where this group can go.’

The more surprising part for the organization was how simply it received the cooperation of the Syracuse athletic department.

Carrier Dome manager Pat Campbell acts as the organization’s primary contact. He helped the group develop the line process and establish a student section for lacrosse games. Additionally, Otto’s Army has met with Syracuse’s marketing department.

In the meetings they discuss promotional ideas like giving out T-shirts to student section members during basketball games, like Otto’s Army did against Georgetown.

‘They’re trying to establish some traditions and I encourage them,’ Campbell said. ‘I think they do a heck of a job.’

Although there are designated chairs representing specific SU sports, there’s no official membership for joining Otto’s Army. Dilks said she likes to think of every student on campus as a member of the organization.

Patteson said his one fear that exists for the founders of Otto’s Army is that the group dies as soon as its current leaders graduate.

The concern looks to be unfounded as Otto’s Army seeks to accomplish its goal of firing up students for SU sporting events. Patteson promotes to potential members that everybody in his organization is linked by the same goal of making Syracuse University the most exciting campus to root for a college team. It’s a mission that this army believes SU students cannot resist joining.

‘We are Syracuse students,’ Patteson said. ‘We can make the connection that we have something in common and we’re not out to go get at each other. We all bleed orange.’

Published on April 9, 2007 at 12:00 pm