Beard… Gang… Beard… Gang… Much to the tune of Wiz Khalifa’s song and following “Taylor Gang,” the Beard Gang is a small grassroots movement that has quickly gained a following, but its purpose is well-defined.
Many N.C . State basketball fans and students have seen the Beard Gang T-shirts at men’s basketball games and on campus, but few are aware of the purpose behind the movement.
Started by Jeremy Deckelbaum , a senior in business administration, and junior forward on the men’s basketball team, Richard Howell, it began as a fan club for Howell represented by the Beard Gang shirt.
“It started off as the team wanting the shirts and then all of the sudden all of my friends wanted shirts,” Deckelbaum said. “Then it got to a point where, I guess by word of mouth, everyone started seeing the shirts and they really blew up. Everybody wanted them and I was getting random people from all over the place asking for it.”
As Deckelbaum began to see the shirts generating a profit, he and Howell decided to refine their focus and turn the sales of the shirts into a means of generating funding for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. According to Deckelbaum , Howell was inspired by the death of his sister, Brianna Howell, to turn the shirts into a means for charity. They chose to give their proceeds to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and enlisted the help of Cole Jordan, a junior in English.
“Jeremy started selling these shirts and he started making a good profit off of it, so we wanted to refocus it so it wasn’t just a profit and it was going for something charitable, which was Jeremy’s idea,” Jordan said. “Rich actually lost his sister when he was younger, so he wanted it to focus on something for kids.
“One of his younger sisters passed away in a car accident,” Deckelbaum said. “Her name was Brianna Howell. He has her name and the day that she passed away tattooed on his arm. She always is his inspiration for playing. She has a big impact on him and made his decision that we wanted to aim it toward children.”
Not only was the group inspired by the death of Howell’s sister, but Deckelbaum’s father also serves one of the foundations local boards, which helped the group make its aspirations possible.
“Jeremy’s dad is also on the board of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in the eastern section of North Carolina. Eventually, when we sell enough shirts and get to a certain point, we want to grant a wish for a kid there.”
According to Deckelbaum , their goal is to grant a wish for the child of an N.C . State fan or someone that is affiliated with the University. For Deckelbaum , Jordan and Howell, the shirts have not only propelled their notoriety on campus, but have also helped sparked Howell’s play on the court and his involvement in the community.
“It’s something I’m very proud of. It’s pretty cool. One day, we just had this idea to make these shirts and it’s pretty cool to see kids that I’ve never seen before wearing my T-shirts,” Deckelbaum said. “Rich likes the little following he has. It’s given Rich a lot of attention and he’s doing so great this season. I think that definitely has a huge part in what it’s turning into.
“Rich is a really good guy,” Deckelbaum said. “He cares a lot about the community, State and school. He wants to do a lot to help.”