UNT Students Support Johnny Quinn

Students at the University of North Texas took “Quinning” to a new level to show support for alumni and Olympic bobsledder Johnny Quinn.

Members of the University Program Council created a cardboard replica of the bathroom door Quinn broke through in Sochi and put it in the middle of the Library Mall for students to take pictures with and tweet support for the Olympian.

"We're going to be tweeting them, putting them on our Facebook, just letting everyone know. We're going to put Quinning on there,” said UPC member Victoria Ellis.

The idea came up after that hashtag "Quinning" popped up on Twitter last week. Folks would post pictures of themselves breaking through something or into something with the hashtag inspired by Quinn’s feat.

Early on in the Olympics, the McKinney native found himself stuck in his hotel bathroom with no one else around to let him out, so eventually he broke through the door and tweeted the picture out.

Quinn was a wide receiver for the Denton-based university's football team in the early 2000s. He was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame in 2011.

Aside from the door incident though, considering he doesn’t compete in bobsledding until Saturday, most UNT students will admit they don’t know much about Quinn.

UPC members thought the fake door and Quinning pictures would give them a chance to spread word about the alum and drum up support for his run.

"It's just so awesome that someone that we know from UNT is in the Olympics,” said Ellis.

"We really want them to know we, as students, still support them even when they're gone,” said Shannon Burkett.

Hundreds of students stopped by the door Thursday to take their own #Quinning picture. Many even tweeted them out and were retweeted by Johnny himself. 

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