Bill Beise - Fan Profile
By Rebekah Stivers
Wolves fans have watched courtside season-ticket holder Bill Beise (pronounced BY’ zee) since day one—crouched in front of his seat, hugging the sideline, pounding the court with a few rolled-up issues of Hoop magazine. He is not a former ball player, just perhaps one of the Wolves most passionate—if eccentric—supporters.
He’s not a coach either—but that’s his nickname to the waiter who brings his two Pepsis© every game. “One each half—that’s all I can handle,” Beise says.
So why not, as a seasoned, season ticket-holder, choose a more comfortable venue—an executive suite or Club CAMBRIA? Beise leans his head way back, to the ceiling, seeing nothing of interest. No action up there, it would appear. It’s all courtside.
He rarely misses a game—only two to be exact, in the past four years. A solid record for a man who calls himself “just a fan.” He missed the December 17th game in which the Wolves stomped the L.A. Clippers 113-86 due to a nephew-in-law’s family baptism—in Honolulu. Beise’s last missed game? Another baptism, same place, same nephew’s family, year 2000. OK, so he gets a break.
He returned from Hawaii on the red-eye, though, in time to catch the December 26th game against the Washington Wizards—another trouncing by the Wolves, 109-74.
You know he is satisfied with a play when he stands and claps—hand to Hoop. He is focused, intense, pounding the sideline with Hoop, always talking and yelling to the players, the refs, feeling the game.
He constantly is greeted by acquaintances during breaks in the play. During the half on the 26th, mega-music producer Jimmy Jam stopped to talk. Beise is a friend. He and his family attended the Game Works party this summer that marked the departure of Flyte Time Studios, owned by Jimmy Jam and partner Terry Lewis, to Los Angeles from Minneapolis. “Jimmy and Terry rented out [Game Works] for the afternoon, and they had games and prizes for the kids,” Beise says.
Wolves watchers say Beise often seems to get more worked up than even Wolves Head Coach Flip Saunders. Tanned and dressed to the nines, Beise spends less time in his seat—located near mid-court opposite the Wolves bench—than on the floor in front of it. And he always wears the same four Wolves pins, including an original Timberwolves pin.
With one knee to the floor, one propping his hand, do his knees ever get tired? “They never hurt,” Beise says, “thank God.” Probably from the exercise he gets chasing after his three kids. He and his wife have three between the ages of eight and 12.
All up, Bill Beise just enjoys the game. A former securities trader, he makes a point to spend as much time as possible with his wife and kids, stays active in his Lutheran church and of course just about never misses a Wolves game.