From Auburn Fan to ‘Shocked Bama Fan’: A Kick Six Story

quote:

---

Will Schnede lives in the big city now, New York, doing investor relations stuff for a big bank. He’s been up there for nearly four years. He made it home for Thanksgiving, though. That was nice. But it’s never enough for mom. She’s a mom. That’s just how it is.

It's easier come fall, though. At least on Saturdays. She'll be sitting on the couch watching GameDay and her boy will pop up on the screen, adorable as ever, and she'll pick up the phone and text him. Not to check in -- to troll him.
“To this day, she loves seeing it,” Will Schnede says. “She’s definitely a hardcore Auburn fan.”

And she and his dad raised him accordingly. Decked him out in Auburn gear. Taught him the cheers. Taught him which teams to hate. Told him he’d no doubt go to Auburn when it was time for college, just like they had, just like his grandparents had.

Will grew up all over, but went to high school in Tennessee. Everything seemed on track. He made it down for a game or two his senior year and got to see Cam play in person. He watched the 2010 Alabama game on TV and went absolutely nuts. And then Auburn wins it all. He remembers it like it was yesterday.
And three years later, there he was in Jordan-Hare for his first Iron Bowl.

He was so pumped. Life was good. He was a junior in college majoring in accounting and he's at the biggest rivalry in football. If his team wins, they probably win the SEC and play for the national championship again. And he was on the front row. He'd never sat on the front row. It was awesome. And he was in the end zone -- that end zone, where it ended... where it started.

---

quote:

---

"I grew up really disliking Alabama," he says. "My mom always called it the tacky school on the other side of the state."

But in some weird twist of fate, in 2011, the tacky school seemed like the best school for what Will Schende, the aspiring accountant, was looking for in a college; full-ride scholarships will do that. So, wrong as it would have seemed six months earlier, he turned.

---

quote:

---

Will can't escape it. At least he hasn't yet. But he handled being Google's "Shocked Bama Fan" image result champ well even from the start.
In July 2014, he and David went to an autograph session starring Mr. Kick Six at the Outlet Shops of Grand River in Leeds.

"We actually met Chris Davis," David says. "We were getting a football signed for a friend of ours who's a big Auburn fan, but Auburn fans started recognizing Will. He was more popular than Chris Davis. They were coming up and making him do the pose."

David and Will brought something else, too--a printout, a screengrab of the face. Davis smiled and signed it. Will's parents still have it framed, along with a photo of four-year-old Will in his Auburn sweater.

It's been six years. Twitter won't let him forget it. ESPN won't let him forget it. Neither will mom.
“To this day, she’ll text me about it,” Will says. “She’ll say'; I just saw your face on TV. War Eagle.'”

---