It was once an idea for students to rally and tailgate before basketball games. The idea has now transformed into a haven outside Charles Koch Arena for those who bleed the black and yellow — a place to gather and cheer angry.

A place called “Marshallville.”

Junior Max Runyon adopted the idea in 2013 after witnessing what other universities had that Wichita State did not — a loyal band of rallying fans.

“A lot of other predominant schools have a very spirited tailgating party,” Runyon said, “or some kind of student involvement before games. So I thought it was important for Wichita State to have that too.”

As the campaign reached students campus wide, it also reached the community by supporting a charity close to head coach Gregg Marshall.

The yellow Marshallville banner, which once hung outside Koch Arena at last year’s men’s basketball games, was given to the Wichita Children’s Home in August.

Marshall attended a small public gathering outside the arena where he autographed the banner in support of the organization.

“It’s a great opportunity to celebrate what our basketball team brings to the university,” said Sam Belsan, Marshallville’s vice president. “It really just provides an opportunity to be unified.”

Belsan recounted a day when another student, whom he had never met before, approached him on campus, raving about how much she loved Marshallville.

“It was a neat interaction,” he said. “We all have a lot of different backgrounds and opinions on so many things, but when it comes to Shocker basketball, we can all come together and have a great time.”

As this year’s anticipated season begins Friday, Marshallville hopes to collaborate with other campus organizations and local radio stations to host a tailgate before a game.

In addition, they plan to have a more organized system so students can enter games with priority access.

“Since Marshallville is in a different location,” Runyon said, “we want to make sure the organization translates from Marshallville to the doors so that the people who are out there from the beginning are the first ones in the door.”

Runyon said it was interesting to see growth within Marshallville in such a short amount of time. In the beginning, there were about 15 to 20 people camped out, compared to nearly 100 by the end of the season.

“It was fun to see how it built in just one season,” he said.

“I like to think party,” he said about Marshallville’s atmosphere. “Power 93.5 actually added a lyric to the song ‘I’m the Man’ by Aloe Blacc to where it said ‘Party down in Marshallville’. So I like to think party.”