History of the Highland Hecklers

Christian Gochnour graduated from Highland in 2009. He loved his high school experiences, but his favorite memories come from being a part of the Highland Hecklers. Long before the student section was known as the “Black Hole,” the entire student body came together for football and basketball games and was known as one of the rowdiest student sections in the state of Utah.
So rowdy, they often faced penalties. But more on that later.
“My main memories are just trying to ride the edge with my buddies as we heckled the crowd and opposing team,” Gochnour said.
The Hecklers didn’t limit their activity to game-time chanting; they also got together before games to tail gate during the football season as a way to get hyped and fed before the big sporting events.
Gochnour recalled a time when, before one of the Highland vs. Skyline games, they were tailgating at Skyline and the cops came and threw them out because they weren’t allowed to be on the school property.
But this wasn’t the only time the Hecklers and the cops would battle.
During the games, the Hecklers filled the gym with rowdy chants as they hyped up their teams. Sometimes, these chants would create tension between the administration and the students.
Through a constant battle of what could and could not be yelled across the gym and targeted at the opposing team, students continued to heckle throughout it all. Occasionally, the administration and the cops on the scene would have to drag one of the senior boys off the front row of the student section.
Gochnour still remembers yelling at the referees after a bad play was called chanting “push it” because to the crowd it sounded like a certain off-limits phrase referencing bovine manure.
After an assistant principal singled Gochnour out and tried to get him kicked out of the game, the cops came up to the student section and carried him out of the gym. His uncle ran down from the stands to tell the cops what the students were actually chanting and that this was just a misunderstanding.
“It’s actually one of my favorite memories of my uncle who has now passed away,” Gochnour said. “My heroic uncle came and talked the assistant principal into giving me a second chance.”
This was one of many stories of the Highland administration throwing out students from the game after hearing an insensitive cheer.
During the Highland vs. Murray basketball game in 2008, Liam McNally yelled something at the court that infuriated the administration . They immediately took action in removing him from the student section.
“At the beginning of the game we all decided that if one person got kicked out, we would all leave. We were just trying to make a statement,” McNally said during an interview with The Highland Rambler in 2008.
Once McNally was out, all of the Hecklers started to file out of the gym. Everyone was confused why the entire student section was leaving in the middle of the third quarter. Someone in pep club overheard a student say, “Liam got kicked out so we’re all leaving!”
The students attending at that game wanted to send a message to the administration and community, and they succeeded.
After this event had happened, the assistant principal, Chris Jenson, made a committee to find a compromise between the students and administration.
During the next game, the students tried to hold back some of their insensitive cheers but still were loud as ever.
“The next game nobody got kicked out and it was one of the funnest games,” Sam Nielson said during an interview with The Highland Rambler in 2008.
Cheering their football team to the State Champion ship in 2010 and standing by their basketball team all season, the Hecklers brought more energy into the game.
Almost 20 years later, there is still a tug-of-war between the students and staff of what can and can’t be said. But the Hecklers really pushed the boundaries of what a student section can accomplish and set the tone for what the Black Hole is today.