Almost 100 days later, Cameron Koger, freshman in marketing, is still searching for his missing purple maraca, a companion to his beloved white maraca.
Koger said the maraca was stolen on Nov. 16, 2018 between approximately 12:45 and 1:05 a.m. at Tubby’s Sports Bar in Aggieville.
“I’d always play my maracas when no one was coming in,” Koger said. “Then, once people were coming in, I’d either give them X’s or a bracelet. When no one was coming in again, I’d go back to playing them.”
Koger said he has chased approximately six leads so far, but has not had luck in finding the cherished purple half of his Kansas State University maraca set.
“One time someone told me that a person in Moore had it,” Koger said, “so I just walked through and asked every single person I saw what they knew about maracas, if they enjoyed Latin American music and other questions like that.”
Currently, Koger does not have any major leads — other than the overwhelming likelihood that it must be a student.
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Although he said he doesn’t have enemies, Koger has not eliminated the possibility that the robber is somebody close to him.
“I don’t think I have many enemies, but it could be a premeditated thing,” Koger said.
Koger is a middle child, growing up with seven other siblings, so he said he has always been an extroverted individual — and he’s no stranger to having his belongings taken.
“I actually got them taken away at a [men’s] basketball game,” Koger said. “Apparently, they are ‘artificial noisemakers,’ so security took them from me. After the game, I had to go back to security and ask really nicely.”
Koger said students have reached out to him and offer to buy him new maracas, but he declined because he said accepting a new maraca would be a reward to the person who stole it.
For the safe return of the purple K-State maraca, Koger said there could be some sort of reward incentive, but only on a case-by-case basis.
“It would depend on if I thought they were colluded with the person that originally took it,” Koger said. “I might offer a ‘Day with Cameron’ where we do ‘Cameron things.’”
“Cameron things” may include, but are not limited to: visiting the Derby Dining Center, chatting about K-State sports and appreciating the finer details of traditional Latin American percussion instruments.
Even without one half of his maraca set, Koger can still be found at K-State games with handmade signs, and he’s no stranger to stripping off his shirt when he’s excited. If you attended the K-State versus Texas Tech football game on Nov. 17, you might’ve seen Koger in a cheetah print Speedo.
“I grew up going to K-State games,” Koger said. “I love K-State sports so much that in my mind, I validate us winning more than me being safe. I’ve always, at football games, went so hard, by yelling, that I’ve never really been that cold.”
Koger clarified that he viewed the cheetah print Speedo as a way to incentivize K-State’s offense to score more points.
“For the record, it did work,” Koger said.
The Wildcats won the game 21-6.
