By Danika Young | Broadcast Reporter/ Anchor
There’s a duo that brings Waco locals and the Baylor family together through sports. If you’ve attended Baylor sports games you may have noticed the pair that stands out and gets the crowd going — the Baylor Gold Guys. Alex Barfield and Jimmy Roberts (B.S. ’16) are avid Baylor sports fans and attend games from the Sugar Bowl to sold out basketball games in the Ferrell Center decked out in gold from head to toe.
Barfield grew up in Waco and his family has a history of people who went to Baylor and have always rooted for the university.
“Growing up in Waco [and] going to all the football games, basketball games, attending baseball camps and stuff, for me, it kind of goes all the way back to childhood,” Barfield said.
Jimmy Roberts is a Baylor alumnus who also grew up in Waco and has been a Baylor fan from the start.
“I went to MCC [McLennan Community College] for two years and then I transferred to Baylor and spent my last two years of undergrad at Baylor, graduating in 2016,” Roberts said.
The gold look began in December at the Big 12 football Championship. The Gold Guys wanted to find a way to stand out in the crowd and by default developed into iconic superfans.
“We had made plans to go to the Sugar Bowl this year, and we wanted to wear something flashy. Our goal was to find something that would stand out in the crowd,” Barfield said. “We basically just went on to Amazon. We had a couple of ideas in our head about what we were looking for. Didn’t find our first couple of options, but we saw these gold metallic jackets.”
The gold jackets they wore became a hit and the tandem committed to the whole gold look for every game going forward.
“We went for it,” Barfield said. “We got a lot of comments down in New Orleans for that, even from Ole Miss fans. We were so excited about it. So then we came back, we decided to start wearing [them at] the basketball games.”
Roberts and Barfield weren’t always called the “Baylor Gold Guys” — the name spun from a road trip to cheer for the women’s basketball team.
“We were actually on the road in Austin for a women’s basketball game. After the game, [women’s basketball head coach] Nikki Collin kind of came up to us after the game and called us the Gold Guys,” Barfield said. “So the actual name itself comes from Nikki Collen. We didn’t really have a strong identity or brand, but when Nikki calls you the Gold Guys, well that’s kind of it, so we rolled with it since then.”
Though they mainly attend football and basketball games, the Baylor Gold Guys are trying to expand their attendance to a variety of sports moving forward.
“We’ve been to equestrian this year, we’ve been to acro and tumbling, softball, baseball, tennis,” Roberts said. “We’re actually going to tennis and softball later this weekend.”
As Waco locals, they emphasize bringing Wacoans and the Baylor family together through sports. Interacting with both sides and encouraging them to cheer together is something the Gold Guys believe will bring the community closer together.
“We feel like there’s kind of a separation between Baylor and Waco so [we’re] trying to branch that gap,” Roberts said. “We go to these Baylor events for Baylor fans but then interact with the fans from Waco that kind of bridge that gap. It’s an important test and it’s something we tried to do. We love the interaction.”
For the Gold Guys, it’s all about the impact their energy has on the players, coaches and fans during games.
“A big part of it is having an impact on the game,” Roberts said. “I felt like at women’s basketball, we have a huge impact on the game. Tennis, [our impact] was really big.”
