The rivalry is for the field: Utah, BYU player parents set aside animosity by tailgating together

Provo • Gathered around the grill under a tent bearing neither team’s colors, the Hannemanns, Hansens and Normans all commune together over burgers and hot dogs.

There’s a smattering of blue shirts and streaks of red, but there is no animosity, no arguments and no lording over victories or defeats. 

“I can‘t say we didn’t get our share of looks on the way from the gates to here, but once I’m over here, I’m around people that I know and people that I’ve grown up with,” said Brian Hansen, father of Utah senior safety Chase and former BYU linebacker himself. 

Hansen said it’s easier now that Chase Hansen is a senior and settled in with the Utes. 

“It‘s good for all of our kids to keep building these programs and letting the nation see that we’ve got a lot of good football players here,” he said. 

Howard Hannemann mans the grill and has done so since his son, BYU senior safety Micah, played at Lone Peak High School alongside the younger Hansen and BYU senior offensive lineman Keyan Norman. He cooked for the players after games for years and struck up a friendship with Keyan’s father, Dan Norman. 

“Obviously, I support BYU. But I always cheer for Chase Hansen, all the Lone Peak boys on Utah,” the elder Norman said. “It‘s always fun to see the boys have a lot of success.”

Tonya Horlacher traveled from Ivins on Saturday morning to support her son, Ute freshman linebacker Trevor Horlacher. She’s Hannemann’s first cousin and grew up supporting BYU, but now happily dons the Utah crimson. 

“Now that your son goes somewhere else, put on the red shirt,” she said with a laugh.

She said she sent her son a meme making light of BYU’s struggles offensively against LSU last week, but that he scolded her as a byproduct of the mutual respect coaches Kyle Whittingham and Kalani Sitake have for one another.

“Each of us have a kid out there, and we want it to be good,” she said. ”If you start with animosity on the outside and bring it inside, it can get ugly.”

Despite the respect and good will, none of the parents picked against his or her son’s team. Hannemann said he wants BYU to end Utah’s recent dominant streak, and that feeding fans from both sides might help with a little bit of blue karma. 

But at the end of the day when the clock reaches zero at LaVell Edwards Stadium Saturday night, friendships will hold strong for parents on both sides. 

“After the game is over, all these kids are friends,” Hannemann said. “They all get along and we get along as parents.”