FF_111419

42 | November 14, 2019 | the frankfort station sports
frankfortstationdaily.com
Athlete of the Week
10 Questions
3 3
Even in their 80s, Frankfort friends have
powerful voices to cheer Griffins football
with Tre Allen
Frankfort resident Tre Allen is a senior
center on the Providence football team.
How long have you been playing
football and how did you get
started?
I’ve been playing football since second
grade. It was kind of on a whim. Nobody
in my family played before, but I’d always
watch football with my dad and I
kind of wanted to get out there and try it.
What do you like so much about
the sport?
I love the brotherhood. I know I can
count on my teammates for anything.
They are my brothers.
Have you always played center?
No, I just started playing center freshman
year. In eighth grade, I was a noseguard
and a guard. Freshman year, we
needed a center and I kind of volunteered
to do it. That’s where I’ve been ever since.
Was that a tough transition to
playing center?
It did take some time to get used to it.
It took me a good month to get snapping
the ball down.
Playing center requires you to be a
leader, doesn’t it?
Yeah, I’ve got to call the offense, call
the defense every time. I tell my guards
if they’re double-teaming or if they’re
blocking down, just get all the linemen
on the same page and make sure everyone
knows what their assignment is.
What have you learned from coach
Mark Coglianese?
Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.
I know that if we work as a team, we
can accomplish great things. If we
work as a team on offense, we can be
unstoppable.
Steve Millar/22nd Century Media
If you could be anybody else for
a day, who would you want to
be?
Tom Brady. He has a pretty cool life.
He’s the GOAT [greatest of all time],
man. He’s the greatest. We don’t get all
the glory as linemen, so it’d be fun to be a
quarterback once.
You’re stranded on a deserted
island and can have an endless
supply of one food. What do you
want?
Chick-fil-A, for sure. Chick-fil-A nuggets
with ranch or honey mustard.
Who would you pay to see in
concert?
They’re not really a band anymore,
but I’d love to see Pantera. I always blast
them out before games to get me ready,
get me focused.
If you could be any superhero,
which would you want to be?
Probably Superman. I’d like to be able
to fly, for sure.
Interview conducted by Sports Editor Steve
Millar.
STEVE MILLAR, Sports Editor
Lincoln-Way East fans (left to right) Thomas Trojniar,
Richard Anderson and Bill Pradzinski, known as the
“Who Let the Dogs Out? Guys”, lead cheers at the
Griffins’ first-round playoff game against Plainfield
South on Nov. 1. JULIE MCMANN/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
If you have been to a
Lincoln-Way East football
game over the last several
years, you have likely heard
the voices of Richard Anderson,
Bill Pradzinski and
Thomas Trojniar.
They are the three octogenarians
who are consistently
leading cheers from
the stands. The ones yelling,
‘Who let the dogs out?’ after
a big play by the Griffins.
Anderson, 85, Pradzinski,
80, and Trojniar, 82, are
Frankfort neighbors who
have known each other for
around 20 years. They do
not have any family members
on the Griffins, but they
have long been devoted fans
of their hometown team. Six
or seven years ago, they began
going to games together
and became the “Who Let
the Dogs Out? Guys.”
“We go out there expecting
them to win, and we do
what we can to get the crowd
going to inspire the team,”
Trojniar said. “The players
even told us that we’re the
good luck people.”
The friends usually sit
around midfield, about halfway
up the stands. At least
once a game, they come
down to the bottom of the
stands, lead cheers and
sometimes throw candy to
the student section.
Anderson said they used
to come down more often,
but it’s “harder to get up and
down those stands now.”
“Everyone is waiting for
us to yell, ‘Who let the dogs
out?’ so they can respond,”
Anderson said. “Then we
yell, ‘Let’s hear it for the
cheerleaders’ and stuff like
that. Everyone gets excited
and they get into it.”
Anderson brings a megaphone
to games to lead
cheers. Pradzinski says that
is not necessary for him.
“God gave me a good
voice,” Pradzinski said. “I
don’t need the megaphone. I
do all the cheering with my
voice. I yell and people love
it.”
The group has been embraced
by the East community.
They were invited
to the team dinner the night
before the 2017 state championship
game. They have
also been presented with jerseys
and hoodies by the East
administration.
“We went to the dinner
before the championship
game, and people were taking
pictures of us and everything,”
Pradzinski said. “It
was a lot of fun.”
Anderson and Trojniar
joke that their group was
almost down to two before
this season. Pradzinski took
last season’s state semifinal
loss to Loyola especially
hard and threatened not to
come back. But by the time
fall came around, he was
ready to go.
“I’m still not over that
game, though,” Pradzinski
said. “I’ll take that to my
grave.”
The three are often questioned
for their devotion
to the Griffins. Especially
around this time of the year,
when people wonder why
they want to sit out in the
freezing cold to watch a high
school football game.
“My wife has passed on
now, but she thought we
were nuts,” Anderson said.
“All our wives think we’re
nuts. But we do what we
want.”
For the longtime friends,
Friday nights - and some
Saturdays - in the fall are
always days to look forward
to.
“It keeps me young,”
Pradzinski said.
Anderson said the trio
will treasure the games they
spend together in the stands
for as long as they can.
“We’re getting older,”
he said. “We don’t know if
we’re going to be here next
year or not.
“But instead of sitting in
front of the television waiting
to die, we have fun.”