If you haven’t heard by now, a man named Sherwin Shayegan has made quite the reputation for himself in the world of high school sports.
Standing at 5-foot-8, 240-pounds, The Washington State native attends High School sporting events, often dressed in the proper athletic uniform, with a single goal in mind.
“He helped lay out uniforms, got water. He even gave a couple of kids shoulder massages. Creepy stuff like that,” said Jim Haussler, activities director for the Bismarck Public School District.
But all of that “creepy stuff”…mere foreplay for Shayegan. As a game ends, he has made a ritual of rushing the field, court, ice, or whatever the venue may be, and jumping on a players back for that ever-sought after…piggyback ride.
Shayegan, known nationwide as “The Piggyback Bandit”, has been at it since 2008. While he mainly got his hatch-backing highs in Washington and Oregon, he’s been on a spine-sitting tour throughout Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota as of late, leaving student athletes with sore backs for all the wrong reasons.
Now, Shayegan has made it all the way to the waters edge; New Jersey. More specifically, Ramapo College.
Arriving promptly for the Men’s Basketball NJAC Playoff game, Shayegan, draped in maroon, sat in the bleachers with his eyes on the prize.
“I thought I recognized him in the crowd, but I said, no way, he couldn’t be all the way out here,” commented Ramapo College Athletic Director, Bobby Finn.
But Bobby Finn was as wrong as Shayegan thinks piggybacking young men is right.
“At the end of the game, he rushed the court and jumped on two players’ backs at once. With that smile on his face, I could tell this was his nirvana. And you know what, I liked it. Instead of forcing him out, we decided to embrace him at Ramapo. We hired him to do it every game, for every men’s sport except for tennis because tennis isn’t really a sport at Ramapo. And he doesn’t even expect pay…says being paid in piggyback rides is all a man can ask for.”
Look for Sherwin Shayegan at any male sporting event this year, where The Piggyback Bandit, now also known as the Ramabacker, will be there spreading the cheer, one sweaty back at a time.
