• You’ve seen them on TV — but who are Baylor’s ‘Gold Guys’?

    The Gold Guys in costume at the Ferrell Center

    If you’ve been watching Baylor sports over the last few months — from the Sugar Bowl on through basketball season — you’ve probably seen them. They stand out in the stands (and make for good television imagery) with their head-to-toe gold gear — but just who are the Gold Guys?

    We caught up with the duo — known out of costume as Alex Barfield and Jimmy Roberts (BS ’16) — to chat about their love for Baylor, how they became the Gold Guys, and why they are passionate about the energy fans bring to events.

    To begin: Though their “Gold Guys” persona is new, Barfield and Roberts have been cheering on the Bears since they were kids. They’re best friends (each having served as best man in the other’s wedding) who grew up right here in Waco. Their earliest sports memories are from Floyd Casey Stadium, and both guys have family members who are alumni and/or worked at Baylor (for instance, Jimmy’s grandmother was a switchboard operator for the university many years ago).

    “We always heard about that gap between Waco and Baylor,” says Roberts. “But we never saw it that way. We looked at Baylor the same way Dallas looks at the Cowboys — Baylor was just the team you supported. There wasn’t really another option.”

    Their journey to becoming the Gold Guys began in December at the Big 12 Football Championship game. They wore green to the game, but noticed how Oklahoma State’s orange stood out in the stadium and on television. When the Sugar Bowl came around and Baylor went with a “#GeauxGold” approach, they didn’t have any gold, so they went on Amazon and got gold jackets. After being shown on the broadcast (and seeing how well Baylor’s gold showed up in the stadium), they went back and purchased the whole outfit.

    At the next Baylor women’s basketball game (which happened to be in Austin against Texas), the guys wore their decked out gold suits and shoes. Mistakenly, they got tickets right behind the Texas bench, where they stood out in the sea of burnt orange. After the game, head coach Nicki Collen walked over to them and called them the “Gold Guys.” From there, it was off and rolling.

    While most fans probably recognize the Gold Guys from Baylor football and basketball games, their passion is to support all Baylor teams. “We’re trying to go to everything we can,” they say — from tennis to acrobatics and tumbling.

    Most of all, their goal is to help make a difference in support of the Bears.

    “You hear it from the coaches, and it feels cliche at times,” Roberts says, “but to go there and see the team play and see fans in the stands make a difference, that’s what it’s all about.”

    Sic ’em, Gold Guys!