The 12th Man: Meet the Seahulk
Jan 7, 2014, 8:21 AM | Updated: 10:04 am
Tom Froemke (shown here in 2011) got some notoriety at the Super Bowl in 2006 and he's been getting painted ever since, mostly having his wife do the artwork. (AP Photo/File)
(AP Photo/File)
On the field, running back Robert Turbin, he of the massive biceps, has a nickname: Some call him “Seahulk.”
But long before the ‘Hawks drafted Turbin in 2012, there was a “Seahulk” in the stands, he of the massive chest. You’ve seen him on TV, looking “incredible,” shirtless, painted green, wearing a Seahawks hardhat.
Longtime body builder Tim Froemke says the winter is usually his down time but he decided to hit the weights for the Seahawks season.
“Actually I’ve been dieting for six months and I actually started training hard before the season and you know, I just felt like – after last year – this was our year.”
He got some notoriety at the 2006 Super Bowl and he’s been getting painted ever since, mostly having his wife do the artwork.
“I used to complain and say, ‘Baby, it’s hiding all my definition and my hard work. And she’d say, ‘No, no, no it’s not.’ And this year I came in lean and have been dieting for it, and training for it cause I wanted to look good. And sure enough, I did. And I found this painter. Holy cow! Totally worth the $350 bucks.”
He says it takes three hours to get painted by the professional.
His game day starts at 3 a.m., driving 220 miles from Ritzville to Seattle and then north to Mount Vernon, where he gets that $350 paint job and then back down to the game.
Froemke won some trophies in the ’80s as a competitive body-builder, but he never got the recognition he gets now as “Seahulk.”
“I get a lot of attention and I admit it, I like that. You wouldn’t be a body builder if you didn’t like attention. So, I’m getting a big kick out of it and it’s kind of my identity now,” says Froemke.
Seahulk figures his regular season, Seahawks game-day ritual costs almost $2,000, with the travel, the paint, the tickets, and the rest.
Froemke already has a prime seat to the Seahawks playoff game on Saturday, but what he really wants is a ticket to the Super Bowl, which he figures will cost him between $7,000 and $13,000.
“That’s going to be tough. I paid $3,300 for an endzone seat in 2005 and I could see myself doing that again. But $13,000? I’m just a construction worker, I’m not rich.”
Seahulk is trying to find a way to New York as are the Seahawks, whose Super Bowl journey starts this weekend in Seattle.
Kickoff is at 1:35 p.m. Pregame coverage starts at 10 a.m. on 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio 97.3 FM.
