‘Grandma Mafia’ rocks the Cam

Thousands of Marshall fans fill the Cam Henderson Center every time the Thundering Herd men's basketball team steps onto the court, but not every one of them arrives almost two hours before tip-off.

There are three women that do.

Kyle Fisher, 76, Twyla Harmon, 55, and Linda Mahaffey, 71, have been attending Marshall men's basketball games together for three years, no matter what the team's record might be.

Fisher, Harmon and Mahaffey have been given the title of the Grandma Mafia, and even though they are older than most fans in the arena, they stand and cheer on the Thundering Herd during the entire game.

"They've been here since my freshman year," senior guard Damier Pitts said. "They've been to every game and they call themselves my grandmother and everybody else's grandmother. They're just really good Herd supporters, and it's exciting to have them at every game."

"They give us a different type of energy," junior forward Dennis Tinnon said. "They've been here for years and saw Hal Greer play, so that's years ago. It's amazing to see that they're sticking here with us during this losing streak. They come and show support and talk to us before every game."

"Obviously they have great passion for Marshall," said Marshall head coach Tom Herrion. "Long before I got here and since I've been here, they've exhibited that and their passion is contagious."

Fisher, Harmon and Mahaffey love to support the men's basketball team so much, they have given most of the player nicknames.

"Dre Kane is ‘Sugar,' Fisher said. "When (Robert) Goff makes a foul shot, we holler ‘four. We're going to call Chris Martin ‘M&M' and Tinnon is ‘Tin Man'."

"‘Jalapeño' is Dago Pena and ‘Baby Boy' is Pitts," Mahaffey said.

Tinnon said he loves being call ‘Tin Man.'

"I didn't even know I had a nickname until I was going to do an interview one time," Tinnon said. "It's just great for everybody to have a nickname."

Fisher, Harmon and Mahaffey spend the time before each game talking to the players and gives them advice, and Pitts and Tinnon said that gives them some extra momentum to go play.

"They kind of just give us a pep talk," Pitts said. "They tell us to have a good game, do your best and stuff like that. They tell us to go out there and play our hardest and are happy for us, even after a loss they're still cheering for us."

"They have a lot to do with momentum cause they're right there (under the basket)," Tinnon said. "Once we're down, they're like ‘come on Dennis, come on team, lets go,' and we see that when we look at them and it makes us want to play harder."

Pitts talks with the Grandma Mafia before and after every game, and said that he will continue to keep in contact with them even after he graduates.

"It's been four years since I've been here and I only feel that it would be right if I still talked to them after I left," Pitts said.

Pitts said he would love to see the other thousands of people inside the Cam Henderson Center cheer as much as Fisher, Harmon and Mahaffey do.

"To have the Cam Henderson jumping would be great," Pitts said. "But you can't get every fan to be so exited about every game, so we've just got to be happy with our three little fans we have over there behind the goal every game."

Fisher wants every other fan in attendance to do as she does during the Marshall men's basketball games, and has an easy way to accomplish that.

"Get off your ass and cheer," Fisher said.

Adam Rogers can be contacted at rogers112@marshall.edu.