Editing Wave (audience) (section)

=== University of Washington ===
[[Robb Weller]], a cheerleader at the [[University of Washington]] from 1968 to 1972 and later co-host of the television show ''[[Entertainment Tonight]]'', indicated in September 1984 that the school's early 1970s cheerleading squad developed a version of the wave that went from the bottom to top, instead of side to side, as a result of difficulties in getting the generally [[inebriated]] college audience members to timely raise and lower cards: <blockquote>Actually ...there were two Waves. I was a cheerleader at the University of Washington from 1968 to 1972 when we started the first Wave. We tried to have card tricks but the kids would imbibe too much and the card tricks would get all goofed up; then we'd try card tricks with the kids using their bodies as cards and that wouldn't work. Finally we tried a Wave in the student section and it caught on but that Wave was different from this Wave. It would go from the bottom to top instead of side to side.<ref>{{Citation |author= Michael Madden |date= September 30, 1984 |title= Michael Madden From Sea to Shining Sea, the Wave of the Future is Now |work= [[Boston Globe]] }}</ref> </blockquote>The first wave at the [[University of Washington]]'s [[Husky Stadium]] occurred on [[Halloween]] [[1981 Washington Huskies football team|1981]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/trads/020498aad.html |title=University of Washington - Official Athletic Site :: Traditions |publisher=Gohuskies.collegesports.com |date=1981-10-31 |access-date=2010-06-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060325170555/http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/trads/020498aad.html |archive-date=2006-03-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://static.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls01/s/holiday_uwhistory.html |title=The Purple Haze |publisher=Static.espn.go.com |access-date=2010-06-09 |archive-date=2011-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117090436/http://static.espn.go.com/ncf/bowls01/s/holiday_uwhistory.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="lmtapfc">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M4tfAAAAIBAJ&pg=4897%2C2175025 |newspaper=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |last=Bock |first=Hal |title=Washington gets final credit for inventing 'The Wave' |date=November 7, 1984 |page=3C |access-date=October 4, 2020}}</ref> at the prompting of Dave Hunter (Husky band trumpet player) and the visiting alumni cheerleader Weller.<ref>{{Citation |author= George Vescey |date= October 6, 1984 |title= Sports of the Times; Permanent Wave in Motown |work= [[New York Times]] |page=121 }}</ref> In 1982 Husky head coach [[Don James (American football)|Don James]] pointed to crowd noise from the wave as a competitive advantage when playing home games at Husky Stadium.<ref name="DonJamesTheWave">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Jack |date=November 9, 1982 |title=Dawgs dig in for Sun Devil blitz |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |page=B2 |quote=[Don] James also applauded the crowd at Husky Stadium: "We got a big lift from the crowd," be said. "The fact that Husky Stadium has a reputation as a tough place to play the last few years has really shown the last few games with things like the Wave yell."}}</ref>

The wave had been picked up by fans at the nearby [[Kingdome]] prior to the [[Seattle Seahawks]]' first playoff appearance in [[1983 Seattle Seahawks season|1983]].<ref name="Kingdome1983">{{cite news |last=Barber |first=Michael A. |date=December 19, 1983 |title=First-rate reason to party: Seahawks in the playoffs |newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer |pages=A1, A3 |quote=They were part of The Wave yesterday, that unique Seahawk expression of fan unity – a spontaneous cheer that sweeps over the crowd as they stand and yell in unintelligible tongues for, each one believes, "my" football team. [...] There's also The Wave. No one has figured out what triggered this phenomenon of football. It begins as a roar in one end of the stadium and continues around, as each section of fans fumes up and yells to keep The Wave going. No one has figured out what all those people say when they yell, either. It is nothing intelligible. They just scream their hearts out.}}</ref>