Auburn University is all about tradition and pride. Auburn fans will often go to extremes to show their team support. There is one bunch of Auburn students, in particular, that takes it to the next level.

Whether you are at the game and witness them first hand, or watching from home on the TV, you have seen them. We all have. They are the crazed Auburn fans acting as human canvases covered from head to toe in blue and orange paint.

They are known as the Painted Fools.

The Painted Fools became official during the 2004 football season. The president at the time, Michael Greathouse, wanted to make painting up for the games somewhat of an official thing. Greathouse, also known as Mikey G, had painted in high school for various events, and he wanted to continue in college.

Matthew Rooke, the current Painted Fools president, says “Mikey G saw guys do it and he said ‘Let’s make it something that we are unified under the same name.’ So, we are painted and we are foolish. So that’s our name, the Painted Fools.”

Before every home the Painted Fools paint the faces of younger tiger fans. They are located at the corner of Donahue and Roosevelt, next to the cheerleaders and Tiger Paws. “It’s a great location,” says Rooke. “All the spirit and enthusiasm really gets everyone pumped for the game.”

Although the organization is charter by the University, their only source of income comes from monetary donations from face painting. “We paint up kids faces before football games and that is the primary [source of] income for our club,” offers Rooke.

The money goes toward purchasing the paint and other materials needed to paint faces and bodies. Rooke says they collect an average of $150 to $200 per football game. “It keeps us well in the paint, which is really nice,” he says.

The Painted Fools do not limit themselves to only football games. “We at Auburn, we do basketball, baseball, soccer, not limited to equestrian, women’s basketball, as well as men’s,” Rooke says. “We also do volleyball. We did the volleyball game last year for Beat Bama, and it was a lot of fun. We have a really good turn out.”

For bigger games, like LSU and Alabama, they average about 20 to 25 human canvases. For smaller, more low-key games there are usually about 10 to 15 people who come to paint up. Rooke says for some of the smaller games they even occasionally take off and give themselves a break.

“It is a very taxing time,” he explains. “You get dehydrated. You get tired. You’re standing all the time. You’re screaming. You’re shirtless and you get sunburned. So it can be very tiring sometimes. So we don’t want people to get burnt out, so we give them time to kind of recoup in between games.”

Although a tiresome job, Rooke enjoys every minute of it. “My favorite part is when athletes like Keke Carrier, Sara Shanks, Dewanna Bonner, Whitney Jacobs, all these people that I know personally that play volleyball, basketball and soccer, go ‘Man I saw you painted up at our game and I really like that you do that for me.’ That’s what we’re all about,” he says. “We’re all about them seeing us. We don’t care about the television. We don’t care about the newspapers. It is them recognizing that we love them enough to go and paint for their games.”

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