Members of the San Antonio Spurs’ Baseline Bums lead the crowd in a group clap to kick off the Spurs’ final regular season game against the Denver Nuggets on April 12 at Frost Bank Center.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
The Baseline Bums are shown at a 1983 Spurs game at Hemisfair Arena.
CHARLES BARKSDALE/EXPRESS-NEWS FILE PHOTO
Baseline Bums members cheer as they make their way through the corridors of the SBC Center before a first-round playoff game in 2003.
JERRY LARA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Members of the Baseline Bums dance with the Silver Dancers at the final regular season Spurs game in 2007.
ALICIA WAGNER CALZADA/SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS-NEWS
The Baseline Bums cheer during a 2016 game as the Spurs take on the Oklahoma City Thunder at the AT&T Center.
Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News
A group of avid San Antonio Spurs fans have been cheering for the Silver and Black since the team’s early Hemisfair Arena days.
The Baseline Bums — or as their promotions often tout, “The World Famous Baseline Bums” — have been whooping it up at Spurs games for over five decades. The group supported the team before its move to the NBA, at three different home courts and through five championship seasons, as well as a few disappointing ones.
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As the Bums continue their support of the Spurs, San Antonio Explained looks at the history and happenings of the long-running fan group.
How did they start
Investors who worked to bring the ABA’s Dallas Chaparrals to San Antonio wanted to build excitement for the team and boost ticket sales in their new home city.
They went to two college students known for leading a rowdy group of fans at home games of the San Antonio Brewers (now known as the San Antonio Missions). David Boyle and Larry Braun formed the Baseline Bums in 1973, when the Chaparrals rebranded as the San Antonio Spurs and launched their first season here.
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The Baseline Bums moniker came partly from the name of the Chicago Cubs fan group Bleacher Bums, archives show. It also referenced the group’s designated section, which was “literally on the baseline,” said Pepe Esquivel, a 20-year Baseline Bums member who has served as the group’s president for the past three years.
The group originally sat in section 20 in the northwest corner of Hemisfair Arena, an area right above the opposing team’s tunnel and locker room. The seating fueled some rowdy behavior in the group’s early years. There are countless tales of taunting opponents, including a few that involved tossing beer and food.
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The Bums famously chucked avocados at Denver Nuggets coach Larry Brown in the 1970s after he said guacamole was the only thing he liked in San Antonio. Other accounts say guacamole was thrown at Brown.
To help encourage Baseline Bums membership, the Spurs organization initially offered the fan group discounted home game tickets of $1 a seat.
What do they do
Besides cheering for the Spurs during games, the Baseline Bums participate in community events.
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They are required to pay a $35 annual membership fee and purchase tickets for a full season, committing to attendance at 75% of all home games. They also must fulfill community service hours, namely by participating in fundraising projects, such as selling the group’s official Fiesta medals to benefit the non-profit Spurs Give, and by helping the charitable organization in other ways.
Perks include discounted season tickets, a Baseline Bums jersey and the “camaraderie of fellow Spurs fans,” Esquivel said. Group members also get the usual benefits allotted Spurs season ticket holders.
What are their customs
One of the group’s earliest traditions involved longtime Bums ringleader “Big George” Valle waving a giant Texas flag as “The Sound of the Spurs” band played “The Yellow Rose of Texas” to get fans out of their seats.
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Another early tradition included bandleader and trumpet player Al Sturchio playing “Three Blind Mice” as the Bums taunted referees. A longtime Bums’ custom has been to remain standing until the Spurs’ first score of a game.
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The Bums’ early raucous exuberance garnered the group national media attention. The Bums’ rowdy reputation helped make it a part of the Spurs’ early marketing campaigns that touted having “The Noisiest Arena in the NBA.”
In a 2015 interview with an NBA reporter, Spurs legend George Gervin recalled how the Bums were the team’s “sixth man on the court” that “brought so much havoc at Hemisfair.”
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What’s their role today
Though the Bums have tamed the rowdy ways that made them an infamous fan section in the 1970s and ‘80s, the group’s enthusiasm for the Spurs remains.
“Our main requirement is that you must be a big Spurs fan,” Esquivel said.
Outside the Frost Bank Center, the group aims to represent the Spurs through community service. At home games, the Bums focus on supporting their favorite team by cheering loudly from their section 101 seats behind the basket.
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The introduction of the Spurs Jackals, a fan section created last September with the backing of Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, hasn’t caused any lingering animosity among members of either group, Esquivel said.
Any initial friction, he said, has faded, especially after members of both groups realized “we all want the same thing” in supporting the Spurs and motivating fans at games.
Esquivel’s 24-year-old son Jacob Esquivel, a former Bums member, has served as one of the Jackals’ captains. The two have worked to help “build bridges” between the groups, the elder Esquivel said.
One of those bridges was joining in the Jackals’ traditional drum-led chants before tip-off. Bums also participated in the Jackals’ tradition of making and distributing friendship bracelets among Spurs fans.
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The introduction of the Jackals has helped bring attention to the Baseline Bums, Pepe Esquivel said, adding that people have asked about the Bums and how to join after seeing both groups at games.
Current Bums membership totals 35, and Esquivel expects it to increase to at least 48 next season. Membership applications are still being accepted, he said.
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As the Spurs’ renewed success continues, Esquivel hopes to see more bridges built between the fan groups.
“We’re not just the Baseline Bums, and we’re not just the Jackals,” Esquivel said. “We’re all Spurs fans.”