1-2-3 heyyy!

Billy Crystal got Moscow to do it. It was part of a memorable scene in the film A Knight's Tale. It has been done hundreds of thousands of times in stadiums all over the world. Yet the impact of "the wave" to the sports world is still understated and underrated.

The story of the wave is a story of how band directors and male "guest" cheerleaders can change the world. The wave became the game within the game while providing years of entertainment to people everywhere, when their teams didn't. It is also another example of the impact the UW has had on sports, joining such Husky legends as Warren Moon and Detlef Shrempf.

This Saturday, the UW will recognize one of the wave's initiators, Robb Weller. Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary for the stadium activity and its creation will be celebrated during the UW's game against Stanford. Weller will lead the Husky Stadium crowd in a wave between the first and second quarters.

The first wave ever performed was at the Stanford game on Oct. 31, 1983. Weller was a yell leader back in the '70s, and according to The Seattle Times, well known for his combination of stand-up comedy and counterculture cool. He acted as "guest" cheerleader for the Oct. 31 game, and during the third quarter organized the fans in the student section to start a human wave that would go around the entire stadium.

Former host of Entertainment Tonight and now a TV show producer, Weller remembers that Stanford was distracted by the noise being produced by the Husky fans during the game. This fueled the crowd's reaction even more, and at the suggestion of Band Director Bill Bissell, Weller pushed the whole stadium to do the wave.

"The Stanford football players took off their helmets so they could watch," Weller said.

According to Amy Roselli Lydum, the UW's 1981 Homecoming Queen, Bissell had to convince Weller that the cheer would work. During the game, Lydum, who went on to work in the UW psychology department, was in the purple section of the stadium, sitting below the band. Lydum said that Weller was pessimistic about the cheer.

"Bill Bissel actually suggested we attempt a "sideways" stand-up cheer when Robb Weller failed at having us recreate the '60s cheer of standing up row-by-row in the stands vertically," Lydum said. "Robb said, 'It will never work.'"

"Darn, wrong again!" responded Weller.

The wave soon spread to college stadiums all over the nation, and by 1983, it was being written about. Sports Illustrated wrote a feature on the sports phenomenon and traced it back to Weller, which was a month after he began hosting Entertainment Tonight. Soon Weller's invention brought him recognition that he could have done without.

"I resented the wave for a very long time," Weller said. "It took away from what I really wanted to be recognized as, and that was a TV show host."

Decades later, Weller is now head of Grossman and Weller Productions (producers of A&E TV shows such as Heroes for the Planet, with special guest star Charlotte Church) and has moved past his resentment for the wave. Weller looks forward to this weekend's celebration even though he does not know whether Bissell will be joining him.

"It's the first 20th anniversary of anything that I've been excited about," Weller said.