When I was in school at Lambuth College, my friends and I enjoyed going to basketball games. The games with our crosstown rival, Union University where always a highlight of the season. Even when either team wasn’t having a good season, both would bring their best games to these matchups making for an exciting contest. My sophomore year, the first meeting of these two teams was at Union. Lambuth was rebuilding their basketball program that year and had a difficult time with Union during the game. One of the standouts for Union was a player named Elmer Smith. Elmer had a good game that night and appeared to be one of Union’s leaders. He did come off as a superstar athlete and appeared to be someone who could have their confidence shaken easily. A plan was coming together to get inside his head during our rematch on our home court.
A few weeks past before the next meeting. When I went to our gym, I took a sign with me that said, “Elmer Smith Fan Club”. My friends wondered why I had a sign showing support for a player on our opponent’s team. I positioned myself with my sign on the front row of the bleachers across the court from the teams. When the game started, I began cheering for Elmer. When Elmer would get the ball I would shout, “Shoot it!” When someone else on their team had the ball I would shout, “Throw it to Elmer!” I was close enough to the court that he could hear me. As the game progressed, it appeared that he was listening to me enough that it was affecting his game. He was missing shots he would normally hit. He was passing the ball when he would have normally shot. As his game got worse, more people in our crowd saw what was happening and joined in with me cheering for Elmer. The Union coach also saw what was happening and decided to put this star player on the bench. We began cheering, “WE WANT ELMER! WE WANT ELMER!” He would eventually be put back in the game, but his effectiveness was gone. Lambuth ended up winning the game. I would like to think that the Elmer Smith Fan Club contributed to that success.
2 replies on “Bulldog Fan Club”
some of the best times of my life were at Lambuth basketball games. being down on the floor with the cheerleaders meant that I heard many things others did not. Coach Bray was a riot!
My good friend Adrian Nathaniel once told me that the only reason he and the others played was for the crowd and they had great input to the outcome of every game. Thanks for the team spirit Art!
Thank you!