Rutgers Ultimate Fan Aaron Patel
Rutgers Ultimate Fan Aaron Patel
Aaron Patel, a 2014 Rutgers graduate, is a dedicated fan of Rutgers Athletics, attending numerous significant sporting events over the past 20 years.Patel holds season tickets for football, men’s basketball, and wrestling, and frequently travels to away games for various sports.His connection to Rutgers is deep-rooted, with both parents being alumni, and he emphasizes supporting players who choose to represent the university.
If there was a big moment for Rutgers sports over the past 20 years, the odds are high Aaron Patel was there.
The football team’s “Pandemonium in Piscataway” takedown of third-ranked Louisville in 2006? He stormed the field as a 14-year-old.
The men’s basketball team’s first NCAA Tournament game in 30 years, a last-minute win over Clemson in 2021? He was one of the few supporters who got into the capacity-reduced arena in Indianapolis during the pandemic.
The women’s soccer program’s College Cup appearances – 2015 in North Carolina and 2021 in California? He made the trips.
The Big Ten Tournament titles at home for field hockey in 2021 and men’s soccer in 2022? Yes and yes.
Rutgers football’s Gator Bowl appearance on New Year’s Eve 2021 in Florida, which came about at the 11th hour after Covid forced Texas A&M to withdraw? He had fantastic seats.
You get the idea. If there’s an Ultimate Fan for Rutgers Athletics, the 33-year-old Freehold native – a 2014 Rutgers graduate who lives in Hoboken and works in digital marketing – fits the bill.
“I want the players and coaches to know they have my full support because of how they represent Rutgers, and what it means to me that they chose to come to Rutgers when they could have gone elsewhere,” Patel said.
He has season tickets to football, men’s basketball and wrestling. With wrestling, the story goes that the first time he met head coach Scott Goodale, Patel figured he’d say a quick hello. Goodale talked with him for an hour, after which Patel immediately bought mat-side season tickets he still maintains.
And he travels, too. Last fall he went to four women’s soccer games away from home – Wisconsin, UMass, Penn State and the Big Ten Tournament final against UCLA in St. Louis. This coming fall he’s got football trips booked to Minnesota, Washington and Purdue.
“I often joke that I could run a Rutgers store out of my closet,” he said. “I have so much stuff, whether it’s red, white, black or gray.”
His connection to Rutgers predates his birth. Both of his parents graduated from the university in 1986.
“It was always my dream school,” he said.
Patel got hooked on Scarlet Knights sports as a kid, going to basketball games at the raucous RAC.
“I had always said: I am not attending an NCAA Tournament basketball game until Rutgers makes it,” he said. “I turned down many chances.”
In 2021, when the program finally broke its 30-year drought, he journeyed to Indianapolis with his father Bob.
“Top three sporting experience I’ve ever had,” he said. “It didn’t feel like Covid because everyone was happy watching the games, and you met people from all over the country. It’s the only time all 68 teams are going to be in one place.”
Of course, it enhanced the experience that Rutgers prevailed in the first round when Geo Baker hit a game-icing layup in the closing moments. It was the program’s first Big Dance victory since 1983.
Even if they’d lost, he’d still treasure the experience. And that is something he’d like to impress upon other college super-fans, some of whom take negativity to extremes on social media when the ball doesn’t bounce their school’s way.
“There’s a bigger picture,” Patel said. “A lot of fans get too engulfed or entrapped in the moment. There’s lots of ebbs and flows to games and seasons. Fans just want results, they want to win, but you’re not always going to win.”
That’s why, whatever the result, and however college sports changes with the transfer portal and NIL sparking widespread school-hopping by athletes, Patel will still be there for his Scarlet Knights.
“I’m just happy for the players who want to be part of Rutgers,” he said. “People are going to make decisions in their best interest. I think we should celebrate the players who are here. Those are the Scarlet Knights I’ll root for – especially the ones that will share that degree with me when the time comes.”
Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.