One of St. John’s most recognizable fans is hyped up to serve as NCAA Tournament hype man

Billy Rabold has been one of St. John’s most devoted fans for over a decade, instantly recognizable with his red suit. (Photo by Billy Rabold)

You may not know his name, but if you’ve ever been to a St. John’s game, chances are you almost certainly know his face.

Billy Rabold has been a fixture at Red Storm games for over a decade. Whether on top of the basket on the home bench side at Carnesecca Arena, or on the baseline courtside at Madison Square Garden, he is instantly recognizable by the iconic red suit he wears at almost every home game. Yet the 29-year-old Glendale native is known not by his proper name among the Johnnies’ passionate fan base, but rather by his gameday attire.

Rabold, a 2017 graduate of St. John’s, is the famous “Red Suit Guy” that hypes up the crowd and gets fellow fans to join him in cheering on his alma mater. And like most St. John’s fans, his baptism to the Red Storm came at a time where most young men get a greater sense of the world and its diverse menu, his teenage years.

“Being from Queens, St. John’s was always the school in the backyard,” he said. “Oddly enough, before I was in high school, I didn’t pay much attention to St. John’s because obviously, you look at the Dukes of the world and all the big schools.”

In 2011, Rabold—still two years away from attending St. John’s at the time—was among the Garden crowd for the Red Storm’s upsets of Duke and Pitt, ranked fifth and fourth in the country at the time of those games, respectively. Those two moments were the most pivotal, he says, in establishing the foundation of his now-ubiquitous fandom.

“I was there for those two games,” Rabold said. “Being at those games and seeing the excitement of what was going on, and especially watching Dwight (Hardy) hit that shot as time was expiring (against Pitt), seeing the crowd and seeing the student section, that was really when it started. I always said, ‘I want to do something special.’ It’s been a love ever since.”

That love became more intimate in 2016, when Rabold—a senior at St. John’s then—and his best friend, Dylan Powers, sat down in section 6 at Carnesecca Arena before a Red Storm game. What happened next changed the course of the gameday experience drastically.

“Back then, Redzone (the St. John’s student section) was usually on the other end of the arena, in section 12,” Rabold recalled. “And Dylan and I, truthfully, we didn’t want to be sardines in that section. We sat in the front row (of section 6) and we would go to games for the first couple years, and we would wear red sweatpants and red sweatshirts, but we had gotten to a point where we said, ‘hey, why don’t we do something different? Why don’t we go get red suits?’”

And so, the legend of the red suit was born. However, there was a second part of the story that remained—until now—largely untold.

“Not many people know this story, so I’m glad I’m sharing it with you,” Rabold proclaimed. “Dylan and I bought another suit that we were going to show up to another game, at random together, wearing. We didn’t tell each other what suit it was, and we bought—separately—a flamingo suit. It looked like Miami. It looked like I belonged down in South Beach. But when we put those red suits on back in 2016, it took off way faster than either of us thought was going to be possible. People wanted to take pictures with us, we had different ties for different games, and truthfully, I would not be doing this today if it wasn’t for Dylan. Without him, none of the stuff that has happened the last nine seasons would have been possible.”

Powers has since hung up the red suit for the past several years, but Rabold, almost a decade later, has soldiered on and upheld the legacy that stemmed from what he termed “a silly idea” when it was first conceptualized.

“People stop me at bars, on the train, before games, after games, not even on gamedays,” Rabold said of his second identity. “I’ve been at bars in the city and people have come up to me. I’ve been at restaurants in Queens and people have come up to me like, ‘you’re the guy who wears the red suit!’ At work, there was a co-worker who came in and she said, ‘I heard you’re the Red Suit Guy!’ And the best part was there was another co-worker with me and my dad, and they both started laughing hysterically.”

“I’d like to think it’s become a staple to what is offered at St. John’s games. My thing is to always get the crowd involved, and the excitement and the enjoyment through me getting loud. I’ve had people come up to me and they’re like, ‘my son loves when you’re up there! Every time you’re on there, he claps for you. He’s so happy to see that you’re up there, you really get him going!’ That’s the stuff that, if you asked me nine years ago, that’s a goal for me. That’s how it started, and it’s crazy to think that next year’s going to be year 10.”

Rabold’s relative fame isn’t exclusive to the Big Apple, either. While flying to the Breeders’ Cup last November with his father, someone on the way to Del Mar spotted him and immediately made the connection.

“I was on a plane to San Diego to go to the Breeders’ Cup with my dad,” he recollected. “We’re sitting in whatever row we’re in, and the guy gets out of the bathroom, he walks past me and he says, ‘wait a second, you’re the guy who wears the red suit at the St. John’s games!’ My dad, thank God he was awake, he’s like, ‘you gotta be kidding me!’ I never would have thought this silly idea that Dylan and I had was going to be so well-known. It’s a beautiful thing because I’m not one that’s big on praise and acknowledgment, but just to know that people enjoy what I do.”

“People would give me shit on social media for doing what I do. And it’s like, listen: I am who I am. I’m trying to cheer on the team as you are. But the number of people, and so many different people, that come up to me…I had one of the assistant coaches’ dads come up to me on Saturday and he said, ‘I love what you do, please know that the team loves what you do, please keep it up.’ Hearing that, it’s like, shit, people actually do pay attention to that screaming asshole in the red suit. It’s crazy. This is not a job, it’s a passion. I’m no different than anybody else. My love for St. John’s basketball and the success of the team is apparent, and it’s live. I do this whole red suit thing because I’m celebrating. There’s very few things I do for myself in this life. One of them is being at as many St. John’s basketball games as I physically can.”

Like most St. John’s fans, Rabold had higher expectations on the heels of Rick Pitino winning 20 games in his first year in Queens, but was realistic about his alma mater’s chances this year, even with the ample chatter about the historic improvements of Pitino’s past programs from year one to year two.

“Let’s make the (NCAA) tournament,” Rabold said before the season, setting the bar for the Johnnies. “However we get there, let’s get to the tournament. I was talking to people before the season and I said, ‘a 3 or a 4 seed in the Big East, if we finish there, I’d be very happy.’ And Jesus Christ, did that get blown out of the water.”

“It feels like there’s nothing that’s insurmountable, and to quantify it? I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting and to think Sunday night, hearing that we were a No. 2 seed, I can’t wrap my head around it.”

Admittedly, Rabold did allow himself the chance to look ahead to the West Regional semifinals and final in San Francisco should St. John’s win two games in Providence this weekend, and even beyond that to the Final Four in San Antonio. But any thoughts of grandeur are temporary, as he quickly grounded himself again and took on the Pitino mantra of one game at a time.

“It’s on the back burner, but that flame is on low,” he revealed. “If I make it any hotter, it’s gonna drive me nuts. My bar is, let’s just win on Thursday, get that win under our belt. And then after that, yeah, I want to see the Sweet 16, but we gotta get through the round of 32 first. This team, could they make it to the Elite 8? Absolutely. Could they make it to the Final Four? It’s gonna be difficult, but this team, I have the most confidence in to plow their way through.”

“There’s already been so many benchmarks of positivity and accomplishment that we didn’t think was going to happen. A 30-win season? I just can’t wrap my head around it, but I’ll be up there in Providence on Thursday—and hopefully on Saturday—and it’s gonna be some good times ahead, I think, for St. John’s.”