By Kevin Lee
For the last decade, the legend of one man has been growing in Ottawa. Known only as "The Clapper Man," he stands permanently in one place, doing the only thing he knows how to do: applaud fervently for the Ottawa Senators.
There have been reported sightings of him back in the early 90's in the Civic Centre. Years later, more sightings were reported in the Palladium and Corel Centre. None of these sightings could be confirmed with visual evidence. Like Bigfoot, it seemed no actual proof of his actual existence would arise.
But unlike Bigfoot (maybe), this urban legend was proven to be real. Thanks to "the Internet" Sens fans were able to confirm that the Clapper Man does in fact exist. Various videos began to appear online showing him in his natural environment at Scotiabank Place and the Canadian Tire Centre.
He is reported to feed solely off of soggy popcorn and overpriced beer. He is thought to be a lower evolution of Max Keeping, although this too is unconfirmed.
As time passed, more info was obtained about the Clapper Man from reliable sources:
We have managed to compile all confirmed sightings here in "The Clapper Man Archives." Behold:
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| The first known sighting of The Clapper Man. |
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| Note that The Clapper Man refuses to invest in the newer Reebok Sens jersey |
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| Also note the characteristic locked elbow technique. |
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| Short swift circles define his towel waving style. Also note the appearance of what is likely to be The Clapper Daughter. |
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| Note the coordination between the two men on at each end of the picture. Planned? Conspiracy? Probably. |
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| Apparently clapping just doesn't cut it in the playoffs. *Towel wave* |
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| Note that this is the first sighting of the heritage jersey... and Bob Barker. |
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| Here The Clapper Man throws in an uncharacteristic thumbs up. |
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| United in Heritage? |
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| A second appearance of a potential Clapper Daughter. |
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| We saw this Heritage Classic guy recently, the apprentice? |
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| Twice in one game!? A new record! |
Unfortunately this report raises more questions than it answers: The man can be spotted to his left (camera right) in the Tampa and Winnipeg crowd, and what might be his daughter appears in two of the shots, but otherwise, he is normally seated next to different fans every game. What happened to those other people? Was The Clapper Man involved? Is his daughter an accomplice? Does he watch the play, or does he simply stand clapping, waiting for the camera to pan over to him when the team scores? Is his name really Ron? Does he even coach atom hockey?
If you discover any footage this is not included in our archive (especially any from the 90's) please send images, videos, or links to sensforlife11@hotmail.com or tweet me at
@BringBackLee and we will add them to our archive. Thanks to
HFBoards for pointing out some of the clips when they discovered him back in 2010.
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