TEXAS, USA — With Texas trailing Georgia late in the fourth quarter of arguably the biggest football game played at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, the ESPN cameras cut to a crowd shot of a UT sophomore with hair the size of Texas.
Grant Walther (@grant.waltha on Instagram), a 20-year-old sophomore government major at UT, became a meme within minutes before the game had even ended.
"I'm sitting there watching the game absolutely crushed by what I'm witnessing ... and everyone around me is on their phones ... and I kind of turn around and I'm like, "why is everyone on their phones?," Walther told WFAA.
Then, those around him showed Walther the inception of his Internet fame.
"'Walther, you're a meme.' That's what they tell me. They go, 'Walter you're a meme.' And I'm sitting here absolutely astonished because how could I be a meme? I'm just watching a football game," Walther said.
Walther's hair became the star of the show (Believe it or not, his only hair care routine is washing it every day with two-in-one Dial shampoo). Then, the Internet did what the Internet does.
"I have all these different people showing me these Twitter posts and people are already commenting on them comparing me to people like Conway Twitty and Syndrome, you know, Butthead," Walther told WFAA. "And I just sat there like, you've gotta be kidding me. I've already lost tonight and now I'm getting turned into a meme all over the Internet. Really? Like I was astonished really."
As time passed, Walther said he took some of the jokes personally at first, but as some of the responses got "not as nice," he really embraced leaning into having fun with it all.
"You can't stop what's on the Internet," Walther said. "You just gotta roll with it. So, for me, that's the mentality I'm taking into this, I'm just gonna roll with it. So whatever comes my way, I'm more than happy to take advantage of. I'd obviously love to grow my brand and turn this into something bigger than myself."
Life at UT's campus was normal at first, but that quickly changed. Walther told WFAA that random people stopping him to take photos – as small as that seems – has been a surreal experience. He's been applauded as he walked into class. Even his appearances at other UT sporting events have garnered attention. Photos of Walther were shared online when he attended Wednesday's volleyball game against Texas A&M. Barstool Sports even poked fun at Walther – joking that he's 0-2 at Texas games.
"Yeah. Ok. I'm so glad you bring that up. People are acting like the only two Texas games I've been to are the two I've been photographed at," Walther quipped. "I've gotten to every single Texas home football game except for one since I've been a freshman. So, I have by far a winning record when it comes to Texas sports. Ok. At least the games that I've attended. So, I may be 0-2 recently, but I have absolute confidence that we're gonna turn that around at Vanderbilt. And then when they come back to play Florida, I will be there and we will win. I have faith."
Walther told WFAA there are no plans to cut his hair (for now).
"Cancer is a big, big issue in my family," Walther said. "What I said in the Daily Mail interview is that if there was ever an opportunity maybe towards the end of this football season, maybe if Texas makes the SEC championship or, you know, wins the natty or something like that, that if there is an opportunity for me to cut my hair for cancer research purposes and turn this into an amazing fundraising opportunity, that'd be something that I'd be very, very willing to do."
Here's our full interview with Walther:
WFAA: So, everyone kind of knows who you are at this point. You were on television at the Texas-Georgia game. I assume you're a student at UT. Correct?
Walther: Yeah, I'm a sophomore right now. They call it government here at UT ... political science. It's the same major. Yeah, so I'm pre-law, also a business minor. A Jefferson Scholars student. So, yeah.
WFAA: Cool. Ok. What made you decide to go to UT? You're not from Texas, right?
Walther: No, I'm from Los Angeles actually. Um, funny enough for me it was between three schools. It was UCSB, Wake Forest and then UT. And, for me, it was actually the idea of coming to a big football school that really attracted me to UT. I just love the sort of pomp and circumstance that comes with the games, and I think that when you have a school with such a passionate fan base for such an amazing sport, it really drives school spirit and that's something that really just attracted me to the school in general. So yeah, I'd say that was an exciting factor for UT.
WFAA: Gotcha. So you're at UT now. I want to fast forward to, you know, the moment that we're all talking about. Walk me through the moment that you realized that you had gone viral on Twitter.
Walther: Well, by now there are videos to me out there. But, it was astonishing really because I'm sitting there watching the game absolutely crushed by what I'm witnessing ... and everyone around me is on their phones ... and I kind of turn around and I'm like, "Why is everyone on their phones? The game is still going, you know, if there's still time to, maybe we can make a comeback." And I turn around and they go, "Walter, you're a meme." That's what they tell me. They go, Walter, you're a meme. And I'm sitting here absolutely astonished because how could I be a meme? I'm just watching a football game, right? And I have all these different people showing me these Twitter posts and people are already commenting on them comparing me to people like Conway Twitty and Syndrome, you know, Butthead. And I just sat there like, you've gotta be kidding me. I've already lost tonight and now I'm getting turned into a meme all over the Internet. Really? Like I was astonished really. But, um, yeah, that was the moment.
WFAA: So, clearly the reason why you're going viral on Twitter is because of your hairstyle. So everyone wants to know, do you get your hair from your mom's side? Your dad's side? What's the story there?
Walther: You know what? I think I get it from my mom's side. She also has pretty thick hair, uh real luscious. People always tell me if I was born in the 80s, I'd have the perfect hair for it. You know, I have a real pompadour. I used to pull my hair over in this terrible side part. I remember I was in fifth grade and I was doing that and everyone was comparing me to ... I remember I got a lot of comparisons like Trump because he was running in 2016 and everyone was going crazy over that. And I kind of just stopped doing that and just said, "You know what, I'm gonna let my hair do what it's gonna do." So I tell you, I get up, I wash my hair and it dries like this. There's nothing else to it.
WFAA: You walked into my next part: people I wanna know, what's the hair care routine?
Walther: It is two-in-one shampoo. I wash my hair every morning, and I let it dry but it just sticks straight up. I tell you what, it has a mind of its own and there is just no way I can control it.
WFAA: What's the brand?
Walther: It's Dial.
WFAA: Dial two-in-one. There you go. They need to get you an NIL deal.
Walther: Yeah, I'm waiting, I'm waiting.
WFAA: And then with this whole, you know, it's going crazy on social media. People are talking about they want you to go on the Talk Tua Podcast and they want to get you hooked up with McConaughey and stuff like that. Have you had any interesting people reach out to you since this has happened?
Walther: I've had a lot of people reach out to me. I've been told that the Shane Gillis thing is really mind-numbing if that's true. I haven't had really anybody like McConaughey level reach out to me yet, which, uh, you know, I'm hoping that's still coming. But I'm honestly just excited to have the fame right now. When this first happened to me, a lot of people came up and they were sort of making jokes and all my friends were like, dude, you're Syndrome, dude you're Conway Twitty. And then it sort of kind of started getting a little bit more and bigger and they started seeing how not all the Internet is a very nice place and there could be a lot of hurtful things said on there. So, they kind of turned into this more of a comforting thing and then I just kind of learn to accept it. You know, you can't stop what's on the Internet. You just gotta roll with it. So, for me, that's the mentality I'm taking into this, I'm just gonna roll with it. So whatever comes my way, I'm more than happy to take advantage of. I'd obviously love to grow my brand and turn this into something bigger than myself. But yeah, that's just sort of how I'm choosing to look at this opportunity.
WFAA: How has your life changed on campus since that happened?
Walther: It has gotten progressively crazier. It started off with not a lot of change for the first two days, you know, after the game. When it really started to hit me was Monday. I got stopped by a person for a photograph and that might seem like a small thing but it just sort of spiraled out of control from there. I've been getting applause whenever I walk into class. I was walking down the street the other day and somebody full stop pointed at me and just screamed, "There's the meme!' And it's a surreal experience to have people who you've never met, you've never talked to recognize you and then ask for your picture. I mean, that really is like ... it's hard to articulate how crazy of an experience that is.
WFAA: Yeah. You probably have seen this. I saw that you went to the volleyball game ... was that last night? The Barstool [Sports] folks are having a little fun with it and they're like, "Oh, bro is 0-2, they lost both the games." Have you gone to a game where Texas has won?
Walther: Yeah. Ok. I'm so glad you bring that up. People are acting like the only two Texas games I've been to are the two I've been photographed at. I've gotten to every single Texas home football game except for one since I've been a freshman. So, I have by far a winning record when it comes to Texas sports. Ok. At least the games that I've attended. So, I may be 0-2 recently, but I have absolute confidence that we're gonna turn that around at Vanderbilt. And then when they come back to play Florida, I will be there and we will win. I have faith.
WFAA: Did you make it up for the Red River Rivalry game here in Dallas?
Walther: I did. I was there for the Red River Rivalry game. I have a post on my Instagram actually of a total Dad selfie that I took in the upper bowl there. So I was there for that one when we won, at least.
WFAA: What was that like? I mean, usually, so the year before it was at 11 a.m. game. And this year, it was 2:30 p.m. How is that from your perspective?
Walther: Well, I thought it was fantastic. You know, I'm in a fraternity so the wake-up on the day of the game is always brutal when it's at 11 a.m. So, the 2:30 p.m. game was a welcome change. I have to admit, I am loving the later game times. I know that kind of comes with being in the SEC and getting these more primetime spots on television. And so you just get these awesome later game times. So, I absolutely love the time change.
WFAA: To continue the fun side of this ... you're very popular on social media, and the newsroom is dying to know the lady situation is. Are you single? Have you gotten some offers? Like what's that like?
Walther: You know, um, I am single. If there are offers that are that are out there, send them my way, I mean, why not? Yeah, you know, I've got a lot of comparisons to Conway Twitty so I'm scared that maybe grandmas are gonna start hitting me up. But uh, I'm more interested in uh you know, girls my age. You know, I'm 20, sophomore in college. So if there are people out there interested, I'm more than happy to entertain it.
WFAA: That's awesome. Another funny thing the newsroom wanted me to ask you about regarding your hair is there goes the saying "The higher the hair, the closer to God." Has anyone told you about that?
Walther: I've seen so many comments saying, I guess everything really is bigger in Texas, you know, referring to my hair. Of course, I've seen the hair comments too, closer to God. Yeah. I love them really. I'm gonna be honest, I'm reading these comments now ... at first I was taking it a little bit too personally. And then I really just started to realize that it's just people having fun. You know, if people can laugh at my hair, if I can make somebody laugh, why not? If it's at my expense, there's nothing you can do about it. You know, it's just kind of how I'm looking at it all.
WFAA: I can't remember if I read this because I think what I saw at first was the Daily Mail that you did an interview with them. And I don't remember if it was in there or not, but I thought I read it said that you were thinking about cutting your hair. Is that out of the question now? Are we gonna let it go?
Walther: I'm looking at a lot of different options, personally. Obviously, something that I'm passionate about and I talked about this in the Daily Mail interview is giving. And I know that, uh for me personally, you know, cancer is a big, big issue in my family. What I said in the Daily Mail interview is that if there was ever an opportunity maybe towards the end of this football season, uh, maybe if Texas makes like the SEC championship or, you know, wins the natty or something like that, that if there is an opportunity for me to cut my hair for cancer research purposes and turn this into an amazing fundraising opportunity, that'd be something that I'd be very, very willing to do. But yeah, for the foreseeable, for the near future, at least the hair is here to stay. Seeing as this has brought me all the good stuff that comes with the fame. I think it'd be a shame to get rid of it now. But yeah, so for the foreseeable future, the hair is here to stay.
WFAA: Cool. That's great that you wanna try to turn it into something good. Are there any other charitable things that you're looking at or trying to capitalize on?
Walther: Well, you know, uh for my own fraternity, we do a lot of different volunteering opportunities. I just recently set up a clothes drive with the UT Outpost, which is a food bank on campus here. I'm obviously very passionate about giving. So any real charity organization that thinks they could find a use for me in any way I'd be more than happy to work with them. You know, in terms of my own personal fame here and what I might want to turn it into. So, exploring a lot of different options. I know podcast keeps getting thrown around like, I don't know, there's already so many of those out there, but if people care about what I have to say, maybe I'd start one there. Obviously, I'm passionate about a lot of things other than just football. I'm very interested in, people would probably not assume this ... but, I'm interested in philosophy. I love history, a lot. Government major, so obviously I'm interested in politics. But yeah, I don't know, there's so many great things that could come out of this. I'm just happy to see where it takes me.
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