Foundation still being laid for The Horde

The Horde was supposed to be an intimidating army of Vikings supporters, clad in black T-shirts and responsible for raising the rowdiness level at all Portland State home games.

So far, the student group targeted at Portland State sports fanatics has maintained an inconspicuous profile, with between 50 and 75 card-carrying members.

With basketball season starting up, PSU Athletic Director Torre Chisholm said the goal is to have 400 Horde members by the time the season wraps up in March, a goal he considers attainable.

“If we end the season with 400 members, especially considering the history of student support at this campus, I’d be pretty happy with that,” Chisholm said. “250 students in that gym every game is worth four points for our team.”

One reason for The Horde’s slow start is the nature of football games. There are multiple entrances to PGE Park and keeping track of Horde members and signing up new ones is difficult. And for the newly rekindled student group, keeping tabs on members is key to the group’s success.

For $5, members get a black Horde T-shirt, a Horde laminated membership card and a schedule of 40 games that qualify as Horde events. The card has a list of 15 prizes, ranging from the free T-shirt, a free burrito from Chipotle, to a year-end party with head football coach Jerry Glanville.

Each game attended earns a hole-punch on The Horde membership card and the next prize on the list, with the party as the ultimate prize for fans that have attended at least 15 events.

“We ultimately decided to charge just because that way they are actually taking an active role in it,” Chisholm said. “We have weekly e-mail service that goes out to them. We’re able to send them stuff going on that week, upcoming Horde events. I think long-term it will be fairly successful.”

With PSU athletics still transitioning to a new Web site provider, The Horde does not have a strong online presence right now. Fans can check out www.psuhorde.com to see the old site.

Senior business student Dave Doornink is working in the athletic department as an intern and is responsible for developing the new site, which will be at the same web address.

“It’s going to be more informative,” Doornink said. “It’s still obviously in the development phase. The goal is to get it up and running before the next men’s home game against Linfield.”

Doornink said while not all the site’s features will be active for the Nov. 20 men’s basketball game against the Wildcats, the site will eventually have desktop wallpapers and fan pictures. The site will have information on upcoming games as well.

The site will link to Viktor E. Viking’s Facebook and MySpace pages, which will allow the athletic department to send mass messages and event invitations to students signed up with the popular social networking sites.

“As [The Horde] grows, we really want it to become more of a student group,” Chisholm said. “We’re trying to administer the basics of it and let some it develop with their own traditions, as more students get involved. It’s a group that will probably evolve quite a bit over time.”