VT alum encourages Hokies to get ‘Rowdy For Robbie’

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Virginia Tech graduate Grayson Wimbish lives in Los Angeles but is orchestrating a campaign across the country in Blacksburg to honor a lost friend.

“I remember seeing this guy, he was yelling at the ref for missing a pass interference call and he’s losing his mind,” Wimbish said. “I’m like, ‘oh, yeah, now this guy gets it.’”

That guy was Robbie Armbrister. Wimbish says he was one of the biggest Hokies fans you’d ever encounter

“I met him in Lane Stadium in 2015 and just such a bright personality, great guy and he became a staple piece in my family and game day experience for the following seven years,” Wimbish said.”

A battle with testicular cancer and complications from the treatment took his life last September. To honor Armbrister and raise awareness for testicular cancer, Wimbish has created “Rowdy for Robbie.”

“After Robbie passed, I thought to myself, ‘Man, I feel like I’m in a position where we could do some good and also simultaneously honor the life and legacy of someone who meant a lot to not only myself, but to my family as well, and then just so many other people, not only in the Virginia Tech community, but the NRV at large,’” Wimbish said.

The official Rowdy for Robbie wristband was the answer. For $7 you can get a wristband with all the money going to the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation.

“We we raised a little over $600 in week one, which is very, very exciting,” Wimbish said. “We hope to raise similar numbers in week two,”

You can get a wrist band Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. in Lane Stadium Parking Lot 1 space 164 or anytime at the Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg.

“I have people who’ve been coming in looking for the wristbands,” owner of Main Street Pharmacy Jeremy Counts said. “All you have to do is come in, and you can Venmo Grayson $7 to support and then if you can’t do that, just give me $7 I’ll Venmo it over to him.”

“Virginia Tech is such a great community and people come together for stuff like this,” Wimbish said. “Then people in Lane stadium, Hokies, we’re rowdy. We’re a rowdy fan base, we like to get loud so I just think it’s an all encompassing umbrella for what we’re trying to do here.”

Copyright 2023 WDBJ. All rights reserved.