Gartner, who grew up in Pittsburg and now lives in Lenexa, has been a part of the chain gang – also known as the chain crew – since 1981 when he was a student at St. Mary's Colgan High School.
The chain crew works on the sidelines during a game to help officials determine the line of scrimmage, the down number, and the line to gain. The chain gang also brings chains onto the field to measure if a first down has been made.
“It’s the best seat in the house,” Gartner said. “You’re down on the field, you see what’s going on, you’re among all the action. I’ve loved every minute of it.”
He first worked alongside his dad, John, at the request of legendary athletic trainer Al Ortolani.
Pitt State has long held a very special place in his family’s lives, Gartner said. His mom, the late Leona Gartner, worked in Hughes Hall as a secretary to Wes Sandness, a dean in the College of Education.
“She was a big fan and loved the game and the team as much as we do,” Dion said. “She went to the out-of-town games – all of it. We put her 1991 championship t-shirt in her casket.”
His wife, Theresa Peterson Gartner, graduated in 1981 with a degree in General Studies. Their daughters, Mary Kate and Annie Marie, graduated in 2015 and 2018 with degrees in Education and Communication.
Gartner was a ball player in high school under Coach Frank Crespino and loved the game. But he joined the crew before the Game Day environment was what it is today.
“Back then, the atmosphere was very different, and the stadium size of course was a fraction of what it is today.”
There was no parking lot full of tailgaters, no Gorilla Walk, no Gorilla Fest, no pep rally. Football was average.
“Then they started to develop as a team and the program started to grow,” he said.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he remembers stand-out players like Ronnie West, Ronald Moore, and Kendall Gammon. In the 2000s, he remembers standouts like John Brown.
He also clearly remembers certain games.
Like a cold, rainy quarter final playoff in 1992 in which Pitt State beat North Dakota State by one point after a double overtime. Gartner recently gave that game ball to Athletics for display in the Weede Building.
“The players are big, strong, and fast, and you can’t take your eye off of them. I’m the down marker, and I have to hurry and run to wherever the ball is set up. It’s challenging – you have to fight the visiting team because they’re always in the way, and it takes a lot of fitness.”
As he’s aged, he’s started to feel the aches and pains.
“In future seasons I’ll probably come down to Pittsburg as a spectator as much as I can, but it will be different," he said. “I know I’ll miss it very much.”
At heart, he said, he’ll always be a Gorilla, and he is proud to have been associated with Pitt State for four decades.
“I’ll be here as long as the season is going, and then I’ll walk off into the sunset.”