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Equipment manager of area team becomes YouTube star

Thousands watch MU’s Chad Burns dancing on the football field.

The equipment manager for Miami University's football team, Chad Burns, has become a YouTube sensation.

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 10:41 AM Monday, January 16, 2012

OXFORD — Chad Burns is a man in motion.

Much of it is precise, careful, often mundane, which is a demand of his job as Miami University assistant equipment manager.

“We fit helmets and shoulder pads for players,” Burns said. “We keep the locker room clean and disinfected, order all the gear, keep inventory, pack the football gear into semis for road games.”

Ho hum, right? Who could have predicted that his relatively obscure job would turn him into a YouTube sensation known as Chad “Stylez” on the Internet?

Obviously there is more to Burns, and it’s exactly what meets the eye.

When the mood hits him, Burns bursts out in unrestrained motion, shifting from one dance to another — moon walk, break dancing, funk, swing, country, you name it.

Last fall, many of his spontaneous moves came at Yager Stadium prior to football practice while music was being played over the public address system.

“We’re sitting there before practice, the team’s stretching, and we’re in waiting mode,” he said. “I just started dancing, and no one seemed to mind. People began encouraging it.”

“A lot of the players noticed it,” Miami junior quarterback Zac Dysert said. “Charlie’s a great guy who brings a lot of energy. He definitely loosens us up a little bit, showing us that it’s important to go out there and have fun, too.”

One day last November, Burns was summoned to the Miami football office, and he thought he might be in some sort of trouble.

“Reed Schuitema, the director of football operations, pulled me aside,” Burns remembered. “He had a DVD in his hand and said I had to come with him and see this.”

The crew taping the practices, led by video coordinator Matt Mountjoy, had decided just for fun to focus their lens on Burns from time to time. They put the best pieces together and set it to music.

“It was like a five-minute video, and it was all of me and it was crazy,” Burns said.

Burns consented to have it posted on YouTube.

“I thought it would be fun for my family to watch,” he said. “We thought it would be cool to get a couple hundred views.

“It just started getting emailed out and linked to people’s Facebooks,” Burns said. “It had gotten about 20,000 views the day after it had been posted. Our jaws just dropped. ... The last time I checked, there were about 170,000 views.”

Suddenly Burns became a man in demand.

“Right This Minute” (a video news website which is syndicated nationally on TV) asked for a Skype appearance, people from ESPN asked to use it, and it ended up being on ‘SportsNation,’ and I was on radio with Lance McAlister,” he said.

“I can’t believe they’re plastering my ugly mug all over the place.”

The popularity of the video seems to come from the sheer joy Burns exudes from every fiber of his body in motion.

“I have four older brothers and an older sister. My family is very fun and outgoing. My dad has always danced around and joked around with us,” he said.

Burns knows it’s not all about him, especially during working hours.

“If they keep playing music, I’ll keep dancing,” he said. “But if the coaches decide it’s distracting, I’ll be OK with that. I love my job and I can keep my dancing to the equipment room when no one’s around.

“The best part about this,” Burns said, “is that everyone tells me (the video) has made them smile.”