Chuck Crabb: A Talk With A Hoosier Legend

Most Hoosier fans know Chuck for his unmistakable voice on the sidelines of Assembly Hall, but not many know his role outside of the basketball games. Obviously, you learned earlier he was an athletics fundraiser early on in his career with IU, but his role with Indiana Athletics evolved quite a bit over the years.

In 1979, Chuck has been the administrator for the IU cheerleading program, in a role he actually sort of fell into by accident. Chuck explained, “Basically, it started by me being asked by then athletic director Ralph Floyd, ‘Hey would you drive the cheerleaders to Iowa for the season opening football game’. And I did, got them there, and got them back safely. Darned if those kids didn’t go into the athletic director the next week and say, ‘We want to have Mr. Crabb be with us for all of the games. He could be our advisor. He could be our coach.” He joked, “You haven’t seen anything awkward until you’ve seen me do a forward roll… and that’s the sum total of my skill.” He then became the driver for road games. “I came to know very well, every convenient store, every fast food restaurant within the Big Ten.” Chuck says he had some great times getting to know the kids. “To this day, I still do, even though my roll has changed, (being the admin.)” Obviously, the Hoosier squad has been built into a national power, winning two consecutive national titles.

Chuck Crabb poses with the national champion IU cheer squad. Since 1979, Chuck has mentored over 800 cheerleaders who he refers to as his kids.

The same year, Chuck was the first ever marketing director for the IU athletic department. “I’d never had the first marketing class in my life, but I was expected to promote Indiana University athletics, so it was more about media buys, and working with creative services groups to create the advertising campaigns, and promoting ticket sales.”