Q: K-State fans have a universal hand symbol, but what is it actually called?
A: Every member of the K-State community knows that it’s only proper photo or video etiquette to flash the K-State hand symbol anytime you’re on camera.
K-State agricultural economics professor Tim Dalton flashed the sign during in his appearance Monday on “Wheel of Fortune.”
Consider yourself a recluse if you live in Manhattan and have yet to see the ubiquitous hand symbol, which looks like the OK hand gesture, but with an open “O.”
But what exactly is it called?
First, a little history. College hand signs date back to the mid-20th century South, where colleges — particularly ones in Texas — began to use them as symbols of unity at football games, or unity against another school at least.
There’s clearly value in having a hand symbol, because even Les Miles is trying to get a hand symbol started over at the Kansas program, but for some reason, the sign hasn’t exactly gained a foothold among its ever-loyal football fans. There’s also the Texas Tech Raiders’ hand sign, which is a finger gun pointed slightly upward. Pew pew.
Other signs also include the TCU “frog fingers” that look like you’re in the middle of making air quotes. Don’t ask us how that looks like a frog’s fingers — it’s about as inexplicable as having a frog as your mascot.
Excuse us, “horned” frog.
Over at Texas, the Longhorns use the hook ‘em horns symbol (don’t make that hand gesture upside down, though, lest you run afoul of the great deciders-that-be at the Big 12).
Tough luck asking any K-State alumni from before this millennium about doing the hand gesture during their time in college, though. Bill Snyder might have even (first) retired before the gesture became popular.
But the gesture appears to have started, as with a lot of other K-State heritage, with the marching band. As marching band director, Frank Tracz has a front seat to the birth of many traditions, and he says the hand symbol started back in the mid-oughts (or ‘00s, depending on your preference).
Tracz, a rock band aficionado, says it started when the band was playing its knockoff drum beat of the Led Zeppelin song “Immigrant Song,” and some band member began to pump his hand with his fingers curled into the shapes of the letters “W” and “C.”
WC — “Wildcat.” Not water closet, to clarify for our European readers.
Thus, the Wildcat hand symbol was born.
“I think they’re college kids and having college fun,” the band’s head honcho said. “It’s something to do at the games, so it takes off. The band has a neat tune to it and everyone sings. It’s just fun, plain and simple.”
The hand gesture, though, is NOT the K-State Powercat, as this Mercury reporter learned just this week despite having graduated from the school last May. To be fair, it does look a bit like a yowling cat, just like the K-State logo Snyder himself commissioned 30 years ago.
But no, explained Tracz. It’s pretty clearly a “WC,” and some things don’t need elaborate explanation, he said.
“Everyone looks for creative reason why things happen, but sometimes it’s just plain and simple,” Tracz said. “Something new happens every year, and sometimes they become tradition.”
To submit a question, send by email to questions@themercury.com, or by regular mail to Questions, P.O. Box 787 Manhattan, KS 66505.
