How two teenagers snuck into the Baylor locker room to celebrate the victory over TCU
The mystery surrounding Baylor’s win over TCU in Fort Worth is the case of the two teenage fans who crashed the Bears’ locker room to join the celebration.
Last Saturday, as the Baylor team reveled its win and perfect record, BU football coach Matt Rhule noticed two kids he didn’t know just quietly hanging around in the locker room.
In his weekly press conference this week in Waco, Rhule told reporters, “And we get in the locker room and there are these two kids sitting in there, and they’re, like, 14, and I’ve never seen them before. I didn’t know if they were a donor’s kid or something. I said, ‘Who are you guys?’ And they kind of looked (over their shoulders). I said, ‘No, who are you guys?’ I thought they were someone’s kids.”
“And the (kids) were like, ‘We like Baylor now.’ And (Baylor officials) were going to grab them and tell them to leave. And I said, ‘No, stay with us.’ And the (Baylor players) picked them up. I still have no idea who they are. No idea.”
What Fort Worth McLean eighth-grade students Hill Wiley and his friend, Garrett White, did was to crash the Royal Wedding.
Immediately after the TCU/Baylor game ended, the two “magically” slipped past the air-tight security guards at Amon G. Carter Stadium to walk around the field.
“I do that all the time,” Wiley said. “That’s no problem.”
He has made a career of, magically, maneuvering his way around the Secret Service-caliber security at TCU’s stadium to have his picture taken with the likes of Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray, and Texas Tech quarterback Jett Duffey, among others.
Even after TCU defeated Texas in October, UT quarterback Sam Ehlinger was nice enough to pose for a picture with Wiley on the field after the game.
Wiley managed to take a picture with Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer, and was in the postgame live shot on Fox Sports TV.
As the Baylor football team walked and celebrated their way off the field toward the locker room, Wiley and White simply went with the crowd. They blended in among the giants in green and gold.
No one noticed the two young boys. They weren’t making a scene.
“We thought the cops were going to stop us,” Wiley said. “We just walked in the locker room and looked like we knew where we were going.”
Imagine how far they could have gone had they had a clipboard.
After making it into the locker room, they found themselves at the front of the group when Rhule led the prayer in the team huddle. That’s when Rhule noticed the two kids.
“I was like, ‘Oh no.’ There were cops in there. I thought we were going to get arrested,” Wiley said.
When Rhule busted them, Wiley said he and White looked at each other. Wiley said, “We’re Baylor fans.”
An noble lie. Wiley is an Oklahoma fan. His dad, Barney, is a Texas alum. His mother, Holly, is a TCU alum.
Wiley used to be a TCU fan, until he jumped on the Sooner wagon (the one that doesn’t turn over and crash). They could sell the Baylor-fan angle.
Wiley and White were not only allowed to stay in the locker room with the Bears, but the two also body surfed as the players passed them around. Wiley took a picture of the scene in the locker room, and struck up a conversation with Brewer.
Credit Rhule, and every single Baylor person, for letting the two kids have a moment they will never forget. Rhule may be the only Power 5 coach to not only let this slide, but also encouraged the kids to stick around and have some fun.
There was no self-important spasm of paranoia, or needless finger-pointing and berating of administrators or security who made the same mistake.
Wiley and White were allowed to stay for 15 minutes, and then it was time to go.
Wiley’s father was attending the UT-Kansas State game in Austin when his son was busy becoming a lifelong Baylor fan. When Barney first heard this tale from his son, he didn’t buy it.
It was not until a friend sent him the video of Rhule telling the story of the two kids in the locker room did Barney Wiley believe his son and his buddy had successfully crashed the Baylor locker room.
“Hill is not shy and he will ask for anything,” Barney Wiley said. “He has a box full of gloves and sweatbands. Charlie Brewer was going to give him his cleats. When Hill said he was on the field, I believed him. When he said he got into the locker room and celebrated with the team, I said, ‘No, you didn’t do that.’”
“He said, ‘I promise you dad, we really did.’”
They really did. Matt Rhule can tell you all about it.
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 5:30 AM.
