gryphon football gryphonuts

If you have been to a Gryphon Football game, you’ve probably noticed the group of fans who go above and beyond cheering and getting the crowd fired up. Their look often consists of Gryphon-coloured wigs, helmets, morph suits and jerseys. If you’ve been to one of our home games, you can probably picture these people very clearly. This group of superfans is known as the Gryphonuts.

The Gryphonuts consist of six individuals: Taylor Scully, Owen Ricker, Aric Emiry, Tristan Emiry, Dennis Larson and Jarrett Norrie. They’re unique and dedicated to the Gryphon Football program, however, have taken part in cheering on some other sports here and there, such as the Hockey team at the Frosty Mug. We spoke with three of the Gryphonut members who shared some of their favourite parts, memories and players from their time as Gryphonuts.

Tristan Emiry

Tristan Emiry grew up in Massey, ON and studied Animal Science at the University of Guelph. He now works as a nutritionist for dairy cows out of Sharpe Farm Supplies on the north end of Guelph. He has been a Gryphonut for six year. His favourite part of the program is getting to know all of the local fans and parents who come back year after year.

“I have made a lot of friends in the crowd and at the tailgate who I look forward to seeing every game and every year”.

Tristan adds that using the t-shirt gun is always a fun part of his role, but nothing beats when the fans of Alumni Stadium are really rocking and having fun. “That’s what really makes it a blast”.

When asked if he had any favourite players from throughout the years, Tristan said:

“there's too many to name but Rob Farquharson, Ryan Nieuwsteeg, and Jazz Lindsay come to mind. Gabe and Dan Ferraro are definitely at the top, they were so consistent as kickers. I grew up playing soccer, and we didn't have a football team in high school, so I always imagined if I had played football I would have been a kicker”.

Fun Fact: Tristan always gets asked why they aren’t cheering when the Gryphons are on offense. He wants to share that this is not used as a break, but rather a request to limit cheering during offensive possessions in order to help the team hear play calls. Tristan adds that the Gryphonuts try to be as loud as possible when we are on defense to make up for it.

Dennis Larson

Dennis Larson is from Massey, ON, and has completed his both his undergraduate degree and Masters degree at the University of Guelph. He is currently working on completing his PhD in biomechanics at the University of Guelph. Dennis loves proudly wearing his red black and gold on Saturdays and seeing the stadium fans on their feet cheering on the Gryphons. “As a player, you can’t not get excited and fired up when your home crowd is loud and proud”.

When asked about his favourite memory during his time as a Gryphonut, Dennis reflected on the last regular season home game from the 2018 season vs. Waterloo.

“This game was a crazy high-scoring battle that saw the Gryphons finish on top, 47-44 in double OT. There were so many memorable moments in this game: a blocked (and caught) punt ran into the endzone by the Gryphons, a last minute drive finished off by a Gabe Ferraro field goal to tie the game with no time on the clock, two converted touchdowns in the first OT, Gabe hitting a clutch field goal to put the Gryphons up 47-44, and the Gryphons D standing tall by sacking the QB and recovering the fumbled ball to finish the game! The crowd had so much energy that our crew didn’t need to do much to keep them into the game and I believe that helped will the Gryphons to victory that day!”

He credits Gabriel Ferraro as being one of his favourite players from the Gryphons due to the fact that he is “clutch”.

“We could always count on [Gabe] to make PATs and field goals to put points on the board, in addition to those monstrous punts that pinned the opposition deep in their territory.”

Jarrett Norrie

Jarrett Norrie is a Nova Scotia native who studied at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton before coming to the University of Guelph for his Masters. He is shortly moving on to Brock University for his PhD. Jared’s favourite part of being a Gryphonut is “meeting new fans and getting to laugh with them before cheering on Guelph. I get to hang out with the rest of the Gryphonuts, as well as the fans before, during, after the game and get to make a lot of noise”.

Other Gryphonuts include Owen Ricker, Taylor Scully and Aric Emiry.

1.        Owen is from Dunnville, ON and is in his 2nd year of Animal Science at the University of Guelph.

2.        Taylor is from Massey, ON and did her undergrad in Biomedical Science at Guelph and Masters in Human Health and Nutritional Sciences. She now works for the OVC at University of Guelph. 

3.        Aric is from Massey, ON and is studying Physical Education at Brock University. He is an honourary Gryphon that has lent his cheering voice at many Gryphon games.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the Gryphonut team, please reach out to Sarah Garrett at sarahkaterina@gmail.com .

written by: taylor floris