If you have either attended or watched a UofL Football or Men’s Basketball home game over the past few years, there’s a very good chance that you may have seen an interesting fan firmly placed in the UofL student
section dressed as none other than The Joker.
Personally, my first recollection of said Joker came early in 2023 when I was watching a first year Jeff Brohm led Cards team play Notre Dame at Cardinal Stadium from my home living room. During a timeout the ESPN camera operator slowly panned over the UofL student section (The Ville’ns) and I said to myself, “Wait, what was that? Was that someone dressed like The Joker?” Too lazy to hit the play back option on my remote, I sent a friend of mine who was also watching to see if I had seen an illusion. Nope, he saw the character as well. Admittedly, I’ve always been the type of UofL supporter who probably pays an equal amount of attention to fellow fans and what’s going on around me compared to the game action itself. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve always been keyed into what superfans like Gary “The Redbird” Budd and Terry Isaac (The D Fence guy) are doing.
So, let’s pull the curtain back on who this relatively new UofL fan is. His name is Robert Blake but most anyone who knows him personally just calls him Bobby. Bobby grew up in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from Springfield High School in 2010, Bobby enlisted in the US Air Force. After a period of time, he then joined the USAF Reserves. After 13 total years or service with the USAF, Bobby decided he wanted to complete his college degree.
During his time in the Air Force and the USAF Reserves he had taken college courses off and on from 2017 to 2021 at Owens Community College in Toledo, OH. When it came time to pick a college Bobby wanted to a change of scenery. Having a lot of friends in the state of Kentucky, the Commonwealth seemed like a favorable destination. In 2022 Bobby applied to two schools: UofL and the University of Kentucky. He came to visit Louisville twice, eventually was accepted as a student and officially chose UofL. He never waited to hear back from UK as his mind was made up. He was officially becoming a Cardinal. He had attended a men’s basketball and football game during his visits in 2022 and wanted to be a part of the excitement he felt. Bobby moved to Louisville, joined the Army National Guard and enrolled at UofL in the fall of 2023.
Until moving to Louisville, college football had really been the only sport Bobby had ever followed. He grew up an Ohio State fan but liked the idea of adopting a new school to cheer for. As a veteran and someone who as on average quite a bit older than his new classmates at UofL, meeting new people was a bit challenging. So, Bobby decided to take a chance and dive a little deeper into his bag of creativity. After finding out that the student section at UofL had an actual name, the Ville’ns, he decided to attend one of the group’s meetings. While in attendance, Bobby pitched the idea of having a “Villians Night” near Halloween where students could dress up as their favorite malefactors. The group seemed a little hesitant after Bobby’s pitch so he decided to act on his idea and decided he would experiment with dressing up as different characters. Early in the 2023 season he dressed up as Bane and Deadpool. The characters were fun but something was still missing.
So, on Saturday, October 7th Bobby Blake attended the UofL / Notre Dame football game dressed as the Joker for the first time. The Cards defeated the Irish that night and while celebrating with his classmates in the 4th quarter to the tune of “Joker and the Thief” blaring through the L&N Stadium speakers, he knew he had found his niche. He stormed the field with his classmates once the game clock hit 00.00.00 and it became a moment he would never forget. From that game forward, Bobby would attend home football and men’s basketball games dressed as the Joker.
A dose of notoriety would follow Bobby over the following two years. Several student athletes took notice of his Joker costume and asked to meet him. He’s also been asked to attend home volleyball matches and swim & dive team meets.
Bobby Blake graduated from UofL this past December 12th with a bachelor’s in International Relations. He traveled back to Toledo over the holidays and ironically watched his Cards beat his hometown Toledo Rockets in the Bush Beans Bowl.
What’s next for the UofL Joker? Bobby is still in the process of figuring all of that out. But one thing he does know is that he will continue to support UofL Athletics whether it’s living in the city of Louisville or anywhere else for that matter. Will the Joker himself be present at any UofL men’s basketball games in 2026. Only time will tell.
