KIRK'S JERKS
History

Orlando Sentinel Article (2004)
UCF Future Story (2004)

Here's the short, short version. A group of random students found themselves sitting behind the opponent's bench at the UCF Arena in the late 90's, and realized they all had some key things in common... the love for talking trash and watching college basketball.

Many stories and chapters exist before the official creation of Kirk's Jerks in 2000. In the picture below, D'Quarius Stewart sank a halfcourt shot to beat FIU and Jeff was the only person in the crowd to charge the court because a female security guard held the rest of us back. About 7 to 10 of us would religiously show up for every game, and attempt to help our team win by heckling the opponents as creatively as we could.

The creation of "Kirk's Jerks" stemmed from the need for an identity. Duke has the Cameron Crazies, Alabama has Mark's Madness... and all UCF had was a bunch of random kids. One year at the Edmunds Center, arch enemy Murray Arnold was at the scorers table disputing a foul count while the crowd was dead silent. Paul ripped off the classic line "Sit Down, Jerk"... causing laughter from the entire UCF bench. After that game, one of us had a brilliant idea. "JERK RHYMES WITH KIRK!!!"

Public Enemy #1. You started this Murray!

Today, Kirk's Jerks are equipped with some cheap t-shirts and have about 25 "members". A handful or Jerks are students, and handful are season ticket holding alumni, and one still sneaks in pretending he is one of the Speraw kids. We're not affiliated with the UCF athletic department or any other group. Each member is responsible for their own stupidity.

Why we go to games is simple. We love basketball and UCF. Times spent at basketball games are some of our best UCF memories, and we realize the importance of strong fan support and how it helps teams win games. Countless players have been owned by the Jerks. We appreciate the game, don't cross the line, lay off the refs (some of us do), and leave the opposing coach with an experience he will never forget.

How do you become a Jerk? Well fraternity rush takes place every semester at Lake Claire. Just kidding, a few Kirks Jerks are frat guys. We're not a student organization or an official group, we just wear the same shirt. Basically show up to the games and find the people in the yellow Jerk shirts. Contribute something clever and get a shirt from us, and take it from there.