Bill The Beer Man

02/05/2006

If this sounds familiar to you: “Freeze your teeth, give your teeth a sleigh ride, ice cold bubbly bubbly bubbly.” You might know “Bill the Beer Man” —one of the Seahawks’ most famous fans. He’s 57 now. He’ll be watching the Superbowl today (Sunday) with his friends in Snohomish County. He says fans deserve a lot of credit for the Seahawks making it all the way through the playoffs. KUOW’s Phyllis Fletcher reports on an icon from the Seahawks’ early years.

WHEN YOU ASK BILL SCOTT HOW HE BECAME BILL THE BEER MAN, HE SAYS IT’LL TAKE A FEW HOURS. HE SMILES, LEANS BACK IN HIS CHAIR, AND SCRATCHES HIS GREYING BEARD. IT WAS 1976. BILL WAS A BARTENDER ON CAPITOL HILL, LOOKING FOR ANOTHER JOB. THE KINGDOME OPENED. BILL WANTED A JOB THERE. SOMETHING WITH A LITTLE FLASH. THE ONLY JOB HE COULD GET WAS SELLING BEER IN THE STANDS DURING SONICS, SEAHAWKS, AND MARINERS GAMES. NOT TOO EXCITING, BUT HE MADE THE BEST OF IT.

SCOTT: “I’d show up, start vending. First quarter, second quarter. Once we stopped vending, that would be for me a chance to go play with the crowd.”

THE BEER TRAY WAS OFF, BUT HIS PERSONA WAS ON. BILL WOULD PERCH IN STRATEGIC LOCATIONS AROUND THE KINGDOME TO LEAD THOUSANDS OF SEAHAWKS FANS IN CHEERS.

SCOTT: “I’m not so much a beer vendor-cheerleader as I am, let’s just say ‘guest conductor.’ I’m taking all of those voices that are present in that facility, and bringin’ ‘em together. The guys are down 14 points. Is there anything we can do? ‘Go Seahawks. Go Seahawks.’ Boom! There’s a play! Boom! There’s another play. Boom! There’s a touchdown. Know what? We’re down 7. You’ve got a thousand voices yelling ‘Go,’ and you’ve now got 50-thousand voices yelling ‘Seahawks.’ Boom! Boom! Boom! Tied up!”

THE EARLY YEARS WERE LOSING YEARS FOR THE HAWKS. BUT BILL FELT HIS ‘GUEST CONDUCTING’ MADE A DIFFERENCE.

SCOTT: “People do create energy. You could see the bolts of energy bounce off the top of the Kingdome. It does affect the outcome of a game.”

HIS FAN BASE AGREED. ‘BILL THE BEERMAN’ WAS A LOCAL CELEBRITY DURING THE EARLY YEARS OF THE KINGDOME. HE GOT GIGS IN RADIO AND TV--INCLUDING BEER COMMERCIALS, OF COURSE. HE KEPT SELLING BEER AT THE DOME. UNTIL A TEAM SPONSOR RECOGNIZED HIM FOR HIS UNPAID WORK.

SCOTT: “And he goes, ‘you know, what you do is much bigger than what you do. What you do is energy. Synergy!’ And I says ‘you know, that’s what I do! I’m a synergy facilitator.’”

BILL HAD FOUND HIS CALLING. HE EVENTUALLY GOT HIRED BY THE PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS TO ENERGIZE THEIR CROWDS. AFTER THAT WORK DRIED UP, HE MOVED BACK TO SEATTLE. HE STILL WANTED TO WORK AS A “SYNERGY FACILITATOR.” BUT NONE OF THE SEATTLE TEAMS WOULD PAY HIM. SO HE DID IT FOR FREE. BECAUSE HE LOVES IT.

SCOTT: “It feels like the whole world’s in your hand. There are detractors out there. There are people out there who’d want to say ‘that guy’s got way too much time on his hands.’ Um, this has been the greatest form of therapy anybody could have, and I didn’t have to pay for it. Waving your arms and opening your lungs and inviting people to give it to me together, give it to me loud, give it to me clear. Boom. That’s what I do.”

BILL THE BEERMAN HAS A SPECIAL CHEERLEADER IN HIS LIFE TODAY. HIS WIFE KATHI. FOR FIVE YEARS SHE’S BEEN BY HIS SIDE AS HE’S BATTLED AN AGGRESSIVE CANCER.

SCOTT: “I would not be alive if it weren’t for Katherine Ray Olason. My wife, she’s very encouraging that we can, uh, continue riding as long as we can.”

SEAHAWKS FAN AND “SYNERGY FACILITATOR” BILL THE BEER MAN. WATCHING THE SEAHAWKS GO TO THE SUPERBOWL FOR THE FIRST TIME. FOR THE RECORD, HIS PREDICTION: SEAHAWKS 27, STEELERS 10. PHYLLIS FLETCHER, KUOW NEWS.

© Copyright 2006, KUOW