Calkins: The Medicine Man used to rally Memphis fans. Now his old friends are rallying to help him.
Sam Bielich, as the Medicine Man, wore a kevlar hat with fur and horns and a loin cloth. (Courtesy Sam Bielich)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
The T-I-G-E-R-S cheer — the cheer that involves fans contorting their bodies to form those six letters — has its roots in beer night.
“Twenty-five cent beer night,” said Sam Bielich, who should know.
Bielich is the former University of Memphis football walk-on who became known as the Medicine Man. And if you have never heard of the Medicine Man, maybe that’s for the best.
He was a civic legend, a fixture at Memphis sporting events back when the local university was called Memphis State.
“He wore this loincloth,” said Rob Jeffrey.
It was the ’80s.
So keep that in mind.
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Medicine Man Sam Bielich Sam Ayers Geoff Calkins Memphis Chicks Lambda Chi Alpha T-I-G-E-R-S Subscriber OnlyThank you for reading The Daily Memphian. Your support is critical.
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