Where to Find the Biggest Terp Tailgate? Just Follow Testudo’s Raised Hand.
Scott Weitz ’90 Makes Gameday a Great Day for Hundreds Each Season
Scott Weitz's turbocharged tailgates on Lot 1 regularly draw hundreds of Terps fans. He has compared his marathon day, from setup to party to game to breakdown, to "putting on a wedding every weekend."
Photos by Riley N. Sims
Testudo’s outstretched, inflatable hand swayed in the afternoon breeze, beckoning flocks of Maryland fans to Lot 1 last Saturday. The life-size blow-up mascot perched atop a line of three black canopies emblazoned with large, red “M”s.
Dozens gathered underneath to share laughs, clink cups and chomp down on cheeseburgers fresh off the grill. Some alums flashed back to their college days, squatting to take a chilled shot from the Testudo-shaped ice luge, a tailgate tradition in the cooler months.
For 14 years, University of Maryland tailgater, booster and all-around superfan Scott Weitz ’90 has staged successful football gamedays, whether the Terps win or not. His parking lot parties are College Park’s largest, filling seven spaces with live bands, five TVs and cornhole showdowns.
He’ll be hosting his final tailgate of the football season this year this weekend—his last as a current Terp parent, as his second daughter, Ryan, will graduate in May. He and wife Jodi ’90 have reveled in connecting with her and Taylor ’20 and their friends—and in extending this feeling to other parents.
“Their kids come with their friends and they get to hang out with them on the weekend, so they feel like they’re more a part of their lives,” Weitz said.
He’s no newbie devotee. Weitz joined the Terrapin Club, the fundraising “team” behind Maryland student-athletes, as soon as he graduated, then served on its board for several years including as 2022-23 president. On the Terp parents’ Facebook page, he frequently touts the benefits of Terrapin Club membership.
"Scott is a passionate supporter of his beloved Maryland Terps," said Carrie Blankenship, senior associate athletic director for external operations. "He is a fixture at Maryland football tailgates and all Terrapin sporting events and has been very involved since his days as a student in College Park to his recent tenure as Terrapin Club president. We are fortunate to have people like Scott as part of our Terp family."
On the Mondays of home-game weeks, the longtime season ticket holder announces his tailgates and calls for signups. On Fridays, he wraps up his week running an investment advising firm, then loads a rented U-Haul with food, drinks and supplies. No matter the time of kickoff, he leaves his home in Rockville, Md., in time to arrive on campus six hours before the game. After 90 minutes of setup with the help of friends and co-organizers Joel Pitt ’85 and Glenn Noble ’84, a sea of black, red and yellow-clad tailgaters floods into the lot.
“We’re a little bit like roadies at a concert,” Noble said. “We kind of have it down to a science.”
Typically, Weitz tailgates attract hundreds of guests—including Ryan. (“I grew up going to Maryland football games,” she said. “The tailgates started in the back of his trunk, and it’s kind of just grown ever since.”) At the USC vs. Maryland game on Oct. 19, he counted over 250 people taking part in the fun. Family Weekend topped that, with over 300 guests.
Leana Kashtelyan ’25 brought her parents to their first Weitz tailgate last weekend. As a friend of Ryan’s, she has come to the parking lot parties since her sophomore year.
“I’ve brought so many of my friends here because it’s so much fun,” she said.
Earlier this season, Weitz booked country music artist Jimmy Charles to perform his song “It’s a Maryland Thing” along with several other tracks in the bed of his Maryland-flag-wrapped F-150 during the tailgate. On another occasion, a ’90s rock band took the makeshift stage in Lot 1 to perform for the tailgaters.
Five hours, several drinks and about a hundred hot dogs later, tailgaters last weekend began heading to SECU Stadium for the Maryland-Rutgers kickoff. But, a few dozen hung around to watch the game on one of the flatscreens lining the exterior of the tents, unwilling to let the party end.
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