Freshman and his beer hat go viral during Atlantic 10 Tournament
As we have seen so many times in sports, especially on television, fans play a big role in any live broadcast. That was true this weekend for St. Bonaventure freshman Dominic Grecco.
Whether he was standing in the student section end-zone bleachers of the Reilly Center on a gameday or in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Grecco has certainly become one of the most iconic St. Bonaventure Bonnies fans this season.
During the course of this year’s men’s basketball season, Grecco could be seen at mostly every home game and at the Atlantic 10 Tournament wearing a beer-mug shaped hat.
He explained where the beer hat originated from.
“There’s not a huge story behind it,” said Grecco. “On Halloween weekend, I was at the Halloween store. I was looking for something to wear, and I came across the beer hat. The third home game of the season, my buddies wanted me to wear it to the game. So I wore it. Everybody loved it.”
Grecco, who traveled to Brooklyn for the A-10 Tournament with this friends, had himself quite the weekend. Last Friday, St. Bonaventure defeated George Mason in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament. That was the same day Grecco, from Kenmore, New York, circulated around national television, Twitter and other media outlets.
NBC Sports Network zoomed in on the beer-mug hat-wearing Grecco multiple times throughout its broadcast.
Twitter then picked it up. And the image of Grecco went viral.
A10Talk was the first to jump on it, tweeting a video of Grecco celebrating in the student section. And then Bonnies MBB followed soon after, tweeting a different video of Grecco who appeared to be in shock after a big play.
But more importantly to Grecco, Barstool Sports’ ‘Big Cat’ tweeted a video of Grecco, saying “Legend.”
According to Grecco, he has been a huge fan of Barstool’s Big Cat since high school. He explained the emotions that he went through as he saw himself go from an average student sitting in a student section to a legendary fan going viral around the Twitter universe. The tweet ended up receiving more than 300 retweets and several thousand likes.
“It was crazy,” said Grecco, while smiling from ear-to-ear. “I’ve been following Big Cat since I was in high school. So when I saw that, I was in shock. My phone started blowing up. People were texting and calling me. My Twitter notifications were totally off the chart. It was amazing how it all worked.”
After the game, the overwhelmingly excited Grecco said that many fans stopped him on his way out of the arena.
“After the game, I couldn’t leave the arena,” said Grecco. “Bona fans and alumni were stopping me to talk and take pictures with me. And then the next thing I know, people were asking for my Venmo to give me some money. So here I am. I took the money, but it’s still sitting in my Venmo balance on the app. I don’t know what to do with it right now.”
While Grecco admits that the peak of his fame occurred this past weekend in Brooklyn, he explained that Bona fans started to take notice of him early on in the season.
“Since then [when the season started], people have come up to me and identifying me as the beer hat guy,” said Grecco. “So it started before the three days, but it blew up this weekend.”
Bonaventure fans weren’t the only ones giving Grecco attention, he said.
“I was walking through New York City, and some guy comes up to me and said, ‘Hey you’re Barstool famous,’” said Grecco.
As this men’s basketball season has come to a close, Grecco is already looking forward to making more memories at St. Bonaventure men’s basketball games. He said that his beer hat will be with him every step of the way.
“Oh yeah,” said Grecco. “I am going to keep wearing it until I graduate. I will wear it at every home game and every away game. Any Bona game I am at. I think it’s funny. It’s a joke between me and my friends. If I can get on television, that’s great. But if not, I am still going to have a good time.”
By Mike Hogan, Sports Editor
hoganm17@bonaventure.edu
