Maegan Gindi

Position »

Corner Crew Leader

Reason for Nomination »

As leader of the Corner Crew, Big Goon is one of the most spirited members of the RIT community. He has been faithfully cheering on RIT since 1989.

So, how did you get the name “Big Goon”?
A lot of people consider me the leader of Corner Crew...The funny thing is that the name has nothing to do with hockey. I was a student manager at Gracie’s and, before the red turnstiles were installed in the stairways, people were sneaking in. I caught someone sneaking in and asked him to leave and he wrote a letter to the manager of Gracie’s. He called me the Big Goon and his nickname was the Big Goon Hater. That kind’ve stuck when I started yelling at the goaltenders at hockey games.

How long have you been a fan of RIT hockey?
I’ve been watching RIT hockey games since the championship games in 1989. The excitement and the crowd keep me coming back. It’s a good atmosphere.

What brought you to RIT?
I’m from Vermont originally. In high school, I was interested in printing and, through the vocational program in my high school, I found that RIT had the best pr int ing program in the world. So I came here. I was a freshman in 1987. The Print Media program today was called Print Management back then. Unfortunately, I ran out of money and I immediately got a job with Food Service.

How big is the Corner Crew and where do you sit?
I’ve never really counted how many people there are at the Corner Crew. We don’t really have an official membership. People can come and sit with us. I know people get there at six o’clock when the doors open to claim their seat because it’s the ‘hot ticket’ in town. If you walk in the main entrance, we’re in the far left corner. We have a banner above us that says “Corner Crew” and that gives a little warning that we’re loud and obnoxious at hockey games. We used to do t-shirts that say “Warning: I’m loud and obnoxious” [on the back]. We want to get some more made for next year.

What was your best moment with the Corner Crew?
A crowning moment not only for the Corner Crew but also for the team was the Cornell game at the Blue Cross Arena, one of the most fun games I’ve been to. Also, Corner Crew seemed to have a pretty good time at the Atlantic Hockey Championship Game at Blue Cross, even though the outcome was bad. Probably the best game I remember was when we were playing against our rival Elmira College, a number of years ago — and I don’t remember what year it was. It was the clinch in the ECAC regular season title with two seconds left in the game after being down by a goal. Trust me, you couldn’t hear yourself scream at the end of that game.

You also work on campus at Sol’s?
I’ve been the supervisor at Sol’s for seven years (since it opened). Before that, I was the supervisor at the Commons for about seven years. Seven years seems to be my amount of longevity in a job. I love my job.

Why is that?
I love all the different student employees who come and work for me. There is no other job in the world where you can meet so many different people from so many different places and they all have a story to tell. One of my favorite stories was when I had three girls from Hong Kong working for me and they always spoke in Chinese. They taught me how to sing “Happy Birthday” to one of them in Chinese. Of course, I can’t remember how to sing it now. This was about five years ago. You just meet people from everywhere and you learn about everything.

So do you go to a lot of RIT events?
I used to go to a lot of RIT events before had I had a family. [I have] two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy is eight and the girl is five. They come to hockey games with me. My son has only missed a handful of games since he was born. He really enjoys RIT hockey, too. Still, time with the family is a little more important than some of the other events that happen here on campus. I plan on working at Sol’s [or Dining Services or wherever RIT needs me] as long as the job stays as much fun as it is now. I love the work.