Creating Traditions: The Roots of Red Wolves Nation

A program is only as resilient as the people who show up when the scoreboard gets ugly. With Arkansas State athletics currently trending upward across the board, it is the right time to examine the loyal foundation that carried the university through its leanest years. A-State superfans Mary Nell Masterson, Ken Stuart, and Van Wilhoite join the show to share their decades of unwavering support and firsthand game-day experiences.

We sit down to explore the actual mechanics of long-term fandom. The discussion covers the stamina required to maintain a 645-game men's basketball attendance streak, the logistical trial and error behind the iconic three-point balloon, and how a grassroots stadium chant became a permanent game-day fixture. The real takeaway from these fans is their shared philosophy that loyalty isn't situational; showing up for the athletes as human beings builds a community culture that outlasts any single season.

Maintaining this level of dedication means sitting through the rough patches, enduring blowout losses, and watching programs slowly rebuild from the ground up. Viewers will walk away with a grounded perspective on what it takes to cultivate a lasting core fan base and why investing time into local sports programs creates meaningful, long-standing relationships.

If you care about grassroots sports culture, the mechanics of fan loyalty, and the history of A-State athletics, you’ll get a lot from this. Be sure to subscribe and share the episode with anyone who appreciates genuine dedication. What is the longest-running sports tradition you have personally maintained or helped build?

@arkansasstatemedianetwork.com.

0:00 - Introduction to the Super Fans
1:47 - How the Fandom Started
10:05 - Enduring the Losing Seasons
20:26 - The Three-Point Balloon and Game Day Traditions
31:55 - Building Bonds with Players and Coaches
46:31 - The Future of Arkansas State Athletics

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:09

And hello again, everybody. Welcome to Saturdays in Jonesboro. This is episode nine of this still new podcast where we're taking a look at every angle of game day. And you know, so often the focus is on the players and coaches and what's happening on the field or on the court, but such a big part of every game day atmosphere are the fans. And I had a big fan, an A-State super fan named Tim Ponder, come to me here recently. And Tim said, Hey, you ought to do an episode with the fans and kind of highlight them. And Tim is certainly one of those guys. I think about people like Jerry Anderson, who flies all over the country and is playing, and he goes to different games all the time, no matter what the sport may be. But I wanted to highlight three individuals today that certainly qualify as A-State super fans. And I'm thrilled to have them here in studio: Marionelle Masterson, Ken Stewart, and Van Wilhoy. Welcome, guys. Glad to be here. Well, it's great to have all of you here. And each one of you has a very unique story. And I want to get into just how unique your journey has been as an A-State fan, but we'll start with the beginning. How did you become an Arkansas State fan to begin with? And Marionelle, I'll start with you. All right.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Then it seems as though I I grew up on campus. Um, even though Jonesboro is not my hometown, I consider it my hometown. We we moved here after my fifth grade year. And so um my mother began working at Arkansas State in 1955 when I was 11. You all can do the math. I mean, and uh I just really grew up here, you know, that it was gravel roads, and we were in the old stadium and the old field house, and it's my home. I consider it, I still consider it my home, even though John and I moved uh in 2000, no, I'm sorry, in 1970, John and I moved to Florida and worked in Florida until 2004. We moved back here in 2005 to take care of my mother and his mother, who were who needed us at that time. And during all of that time we were gone, we always belonged to uh the I think it was called the Quarterback Club, maybe, or uh help me out, Ken. But anyway, we we still bought tickets, and even though we we didn't get back home for Fort Many, but we came back home and I mean you jumped right back in. It's it's hot, it's always been home, and it always will be home. Yes, I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

And it shows in everything that you do around the university, and I can say that for for Ken and Van too. Ken, when did it happen for you?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Well, I graduated from high school in 1968 at Malvern, and a buddy of mine and I were headed uh uh to uh Arizona State to play baseball, and I had never even heard of Arkansas State, and uh I don't and I don't know how I did hear of it, but apparently we won the uh small college world series like in 1968, spring of 68. So uh I contacted my buddy, I said, hey, let's let's go up to Jonesboro. They've got a baseball program up there, and so we came up here, talked to Coach Tomlinson, he let us walk on, and so we started school here in 1968 and uh played ball for a couple of years and uh didn't finish playing ball because I got married and had to work to finish out my education. But uh so that started my career at Arkansas State and um graduated with a BSE degree, went into the insurance business, taught school for a little while, but uh went back into insurance later on. But the whole time um dealing with Arkansas State, uh, just my my love of my life. And well, I moved away for a couple of years like Mary Nell, but I moved back to Jonesboro because this is a great place to live, as everyone who lives here knows. So um I guess we'll get into the other intricacies of sure being a fan for the last uh what 40, 45, 48 years, whatever.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Well, like Mary Nell, you threw yourself completely into fandom and just everything Arkansas State. And then I know we can say the same thing about you. How did you become an A State fan?

SPEAKER_02 5:32

I moved here from West Memphis in the summer of 1977, and I'd always been a big sports guy, whether it'd be watching Major League Baseball or University of Memphis basketball replays like that on Channel 2. Because I was already been a big sports guy. Then, you know, in the high school, J when I went to Jollsboro high school there, and when I started school here in the fall of 1983, I just started going to games and I hadn't stopped since.

SPEAKER_03 5:59

Yeah. And I want to get into just how you haven't stopped because Van has a big-time streak, and it happens to be with men's basketball. And I know you love all sports, Van, but you are a huge basketball fan. And I know that goes down to statistics and just remembering big dates and all that, but you haven't missed many men's basketball games.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Before I started school here, I've been a couple. I remember going, I remember going to a game here against Louisiana Tech in 1982. Then when I started, I started going here and I hadn't missed the game since I started the school here in '83.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

So you've been to every single men's basketball home game since 1983, including exhibitions, including the one they had over at JHS Gym one time. So what is the number up to now? 645. What a streak. 645 consecutive men's basketball games.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

That's fantastic. The capital FAN.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah, I've actually I've actually I've also only missed one home football game at that time since 1983. Do you remember what game you missed? Yeah, it was uh it was one one of the like Grandma or Mississippi Valley. You know, we never we always started on the road every year, and we always start the season on around Labor Day. And you know, I take trips to Labor Day with my nephew, and we'd already planned one, and turned out we hadn't have a start the season open, so I wasn't able to make that game.

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Well, you've definitely proved your fandom by being at every other one of those football games during that time. So, Ken, when did you realize that you were hooked? You had to be at every Arkansas State event.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Well, when I came to school here in in fall of 68, uh started going to football games. Of course, I was practicing baseball and playing baseball at the time, but I fell in love with football. Uh van's got a heck of a streak for basketball. I've missed uh four football games since 1968. Oh, wow. Uh one of them I was in the hospital, the other three I was out of state and couldn't make it back. But uh I just uh I love competition and I love Arkansas State. And you know, we we've got a great bunch of fans, we really do. Uh uh and I I wish more people would just come out and see Arkansas State because we we've got great athletics here. Uh these last few years have really been good too. Uh we've uh all sports trophy uh the Boobas Cup.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

We finished second the last couple of years. And I I was really surprised. Did we not win it last year? Um We had the most points per sport, but we don't have as many sports as some of them. Okay, so that's why.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

I know we finished so well in in in our say other sports like uh uh golf and right and um bowling. Uh wow, national championship was right. Three years in a row we've been in the national championship, I think. So uh we're we're doing well in all sports. You just bowl games and football.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

And you can't mention the sport that that we have that we're not doing well in. It's been it's it's really fun. It is really fun. It is, it's it's great fun. Well, I'm with you though, Ken. I wish we could get everyone to come out. And I know you do too, man. Actually, you know, they're missing they're missing a fun time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

It makes me happy as much as anything to see fans that care so much be able to experience a time like this where just top to bottom the athletic program is doing so many good things because it hasn't always been that way, as you guys know, as super fans. There's been good times, but there's also been very low times.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

We had to endure a few rough years.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

Yes. So you've shown your loyalty through all of this, but what was it that kept you sticking around through all that?

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Well, if you're a fan, you're a fan. If it's your school, it's your school. You know, win or lose, it's still your school, right? And you still encourage I'm a retired teacher, and so you don't just pay attention to the A and B students, you know, you pay attention to all of them, and you work your best to get the others to come up, you know. So it's the same here as a fan. You continue to support them and you continue to encourage them, and you continue to get to know them. I love getting to know them, you know me. I love getting to know as many of the young men and women and coaches as I can, because you always want to have an encouraging word for them. And so I don't ever, you know, if someone says, Are you gonna win this weekend? I always say, Of course we are.

SPEAKER_03 11:36

You believe in them.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

I yes, I believe, and it can happen, you know. We've seen it happen. And so that's just my little two cents.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Well, and it makes you enjoy the good times just that much more when they come, right? For sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Uh you know, any sporting fan, I you know, I follow the St. Louis Cardinals, and they're they're they haven't done well the last couple of years, but um you're still a Cardinal fan. If you're a Cardinal fan, um, you know, years ago uh Fayetteville wouldn't play us, the University of Arkansas wouldn't play us uh in sports, and uh they're coming around a little bit now, and we've got a football game scheduled and all this, but um um Frank Boyles thought, or I it was perceived that he was thinking that Fayetteville would lose fans if they played an in-state uh opponent. That's not true. If you're a racerback fan, you're gonna be a racerback fan, whether you win or lose. You have a losing season, you think you're gonna win the national championship next year. But um Arkansas State fans are the all fans are the same. Your school is your school. And uh we're not gonna quit being fans if we lose. We'll just we're gonna get them next time. That's right. Attitude. And uh you feel the same. Well, I don't understand.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

You saw not just as far as the age used up, but I mean, pretty much I stick with it for a long time. I mean, I mean I've I've been at the same job for for 38 years, and I coached youth league baseball for 23 years before I stepped down to it. It got it got a little too political for me. So I guess I guess I guess loyal to I stay loyal to things, maybe sometimes too fault, maybe sometimes too long, but but I'm here for I'm always here for the duration.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Van Van used a good word loyalty, and I think I think that's a huge word for us. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

Yeah, you guys have definitely shown your loyalty. And I I I didn't intend on us kind of going down this route, but you brought up the Arkansas game last year, and you you got a glimpse, and technically that was a road game for Arkansas State. And I thought one of the coolest things that we've seen just over the last few years is walking. And I don't know if all of you had a chance to go into the zoo where they had the big tailgate before the game, and there were thousands of A-State fans that were just all around the Little Rock Zoo, and the alumni did an incredible job with that. And then you get inside the stadium, and such a large portion of the stadium is filled with Arkansas State fans, and it was it was a site that uh I know was was uh really welcome. We didn't like how it turned out on the scoreboard, but at the same time, you just kind of got the feeling that day that, hey, this fan base is a whole lot bigger than people think.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Right. And we belong. We belong there, we belong on national stage. Yeah, we're good enough. Uh we're we're better than more than half the schools in the country. Uh uh, just most sports. So we belong.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

An example of how big it is. Back when we played, had the WNIT game here. We actually had we actually had all day tailgating, like it was a football game. And you don't ever see that for basketball, but yeah, we had that. But fortunately, that one the the turnout was in ASU's favor. But that was they just showed how big it was to have to have tailgating for a basketball game when you rarely ever see that.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Right. And sell out for a women's basketball game. I absolutely, and I hope everybody who came to the WNIT will support that group again. You know, come on, come on.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

Yeah, you see how this fan base jumps in. And I'll bring up something Terry Mahajager said when he was at Arkansas State as the athletic director, he he would say Arkansas State has the best core fan base in the country. And just talking with people like you, you guys are part of that. You you are part of that core fan base, and it seems like it's getting bigger, but you see at those big events like that, the WNIT speaker. Marionelle, you're talking about the run last year, how good the crowds were during the women's run and getting all the way to the semifinals. That was a big deal. And you see it anytime we go to a bowl game, and the the kind of crowds that are there, and I'll add one more to it. This past season, we saw the top eight crowds in the history of Tomlinson Stadium for baseball. Isn't that fantastic? And it does it just shows you that it doesn't take much for people to start supporting these programs. And Van, I know you've seen it for a long time now. Yeah, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02 16:37

When you when you see when you see commitment from when you see commitment like they started doing baseball, they guess I guess you'd use this for anymore. You just want you want to be a part of it. You just know it's gonna get better and better.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

You want to be a part of it and stick with it. Ken, I I know it's gotta be fun for you to look around the place where you used to play. You were a baseball player here.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Well, I didn't play there, yeah. But the field I played on was um f further uh what west. Right. Right. Uh it was a long time ago. But yeah, all the facility, oh my goodness. Uh the facilities now are so much better. And it's it's a beautiful ballpark now. And I guess next year it's even gonna be more beautiful with uh new structure that's going up in right field. Absolutely. So uh I feel really uh good for the uh players that are coming up now to have such a facility to play. I mean, we used to have to practice on high school fields because our field was wet, and we'd go to Paragold and practice baseball because they uh their high school had uh uh artificial surface. We had grass, and I don't know, the the facilities right now are just really uh making a huge difference at Arkansas State. I our football facilities are are phenomenal. We've I've heard coaches come in here and say, wow, this this is as good as any SEC school. So you know if if if fans out there haven't seen our facilities, man, call the call the athletic department and uh just ask them for a tour and they'll be happy to to show you around. I uh that football facility is just A plus.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

It certainly is. It certainly is. So this is a time for me to put in for a want. Okay, let's hear it.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

You you've got a platform here, Mary Nell.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

I want the basketball teams, the men's and women's basketball team, to have a place to practice.

SPEAKER_03 18:45

Well, that's something that I know has been talked about, but you you want it to get done.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

I even got an idea, and I haven't run it by Pez yet, but I even have an idea how it can be done. That's Chris Pesman.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

Well, that's that's part of it, guys. I mean, you guys are so invested that you you want to see improvements and to to see things like that happen. And obviously, the facilities have come a long, long way in the time that uh you've been fans, and really the time that that uh I've been around. I I'm going into year 22 now here at Arkansas State.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Um be an old man.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

I've been around, I've seen a few things.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

He had one of the greatest one rig runs you could uh possibly have. Back when we had our first bowl game, he did uh he did the coaching show at the brick house on Tuesday, did women's basketball on Wednesday, men's basketball on Thursday, and men's from the double header on Saturday, went and did the bowl game on Sunday, came back and did the best William Monday, which is the one where Margaret Sutton had that fantastic buzzer beater. I don't even remember all that, man. Before you show get it Tuesday. So night days, he did all of that. If if we're super fans, he's uh super nancy right.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

There you go. He did all that. He did all that in eight days.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Oh well, that's always a very interesting time of year when you have that kind of crossover. But I mean, you guys are right there cheering them on through that whole process. I do want to talk about some particulars here, and Ken, one thing that you're known for is out at basketball and the three-point balloon. And other teams that come in here see it, they see you kind of right at the the end of the stands in that same section where you're you've always been first row, and anytime there's a three, then you're putting up the three sign. And when I I want to hear the whole story. So, how did it get started?

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Okay, it started at Johnsborough High School. Um, and I'm they had a great team one year, and I I did a little thing where I'm threw a uh piece of string over one of the rafters and started pulling up uh threes and blocks. And then I said, man, we we ought to do this at Arkansas State. So I came out. We had a new facility at that time. At that time, it was called the Communication Center. So uh I went out there and I looked around and thought, boy, right there, if I could get that seat, I could uh put up threes right there. So um got the seat, seized the tickets, uh, and I took a fishing line and tied a bolt onto it, and I threw it over the rafters. I couldn't do that now. And I couldn't get it halfway up there now, but at that time I could still throw. So I I threw that bolt over a rafter and pulled a string down, and uh so I started putting threes on the string, but I'd have to pull it down. And then it'd have to put it back up and pull it down. It was it was cumbersome. And so I was thinking, what could I do? I thought, well, fishing pole, no. I if I had got a balloon, I could pull it down, put the three on it, and then let it go back up. And then the next time we hit a three, do the same thing. So that's how the balloon got started. So I ordered a balloon and it started doing it. One one of the greatest things about the balloon that only two people got to see is uh one time one of my balloons had burst. So I ordered a balloon from California. It was an eight-foot balloon. It was red, white, and blue. Everybody thought Pepsi uh sponsored it, but they didn't. It just happened to be red, white, and blue. And um so I filled it up, took two tanks of helium. It was an eight-foot balloon, it was huge. The the cord that I normally used wouldn't work because it was just too much torque. So I went and bought a rope and tied that eight-foot balloon onto a rope and took me two tanks of helium to fill it up. Uh, did it, it was great, it was a lot of fun. Um, after the game, everybody was leaving and I was taking it down, and it it was really hard to get the air out of it because it didn't have a really good way to keep the air in it. So I had manufactured a way to keep the air in it, but I couldn't get it, uh, get the air out of it. So I thought, well, shoot, everybody's gone out of the gym. I've been working for an hour on it. So I said, well, I'm gonna put a pen. I took a bobby pin, or not a bobby, a safety pin, and I punctured a little hole in it. I was gonna let all the air out of the nipple. And so when I did, it just made a line all the way around the benefit. It took off, shot off to the top of the convocation center and exploded into three different pieces. Oh boy. And I'm thinking, oh my God, that balloon cost $200, and it was $200 worth of helium. And I just clapped it across the gym, about 25 rows up, there was somebody cleaning popcorn out of the stands, and he looked around and he looked at me, I looked at him, and we both clapped. I mean, just kind of a fun thing, but nobody got to see that. But anyway, I'm I I quit ordering expensive balloons and went back to a four-foot balloon. And uh we uh we did it for years and years. Two years ago, by the way, I basically have turned that project over to the school, and now Brad Bobo with the athletic department uh takes care of handling that and getting people to run it. I still sit close by and in case they need a pointer or two, which every once in a while uh they get confused or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

Well, it's it's being used now more than ever. Both of our basketball teams shoot threes all the time.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Oh my goodness. Yeah, and I I I my wife um laminated all the threes, red threes, and we I she said, How many do we do? And I said, Well, I don't know, let's let's put 50, no, I'll put 17. Our record 17, then probably won't ever be broken or whatever, but it's been broken twice, I think. So when we run out of threes, we put up popcorn boxes or whatever we can find uh to make to symbolize a three. And sometimes the threes get too heavy and there's not enough helium in the balloon, and it sways out over the court, and the officials get upset, and they get upset when I pull it down, and it casts a shadow over the hoop. So they don't like it when the opposing team has to shoot when the balloon's going up and down. So uh I've got a message from the conference one time not to be pulling the balloon down during free throws, but we've we've had fun.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

Well, other teams certainly talk about it when they come in, and it's it's just you've created this tradition that has become part of the program, which is as cool as anything else.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

Yeah, uh some high schools have contacted me. How do you do it? How do they and they've tried it, but I don't think anybody I thought you know it'd be something that would really catch on and maybe go around the country, but it's kind of unique for Arkansas State. But there's uh another tradition at Arkansas State that I had something to do with, Matt. Um, when my son was 10 years old, um, and he's 55 now, so 45 years ago, uh Arkansas State had a promotion. Uh they were trying to get a new chant or a new um uh thing to yell out at the at the stadium in football. And so I I thought, you know, it'd really be neat if one side of the stadium would yell Arkansas State and the other side would yell Indians. And so I I submitted that into the contest. Well, I didn't win. Uh the guy that won submitted uh rompum, stomp them, Joe. And so that they hired a guy with a microphone to come out and try to get that chant going, but it didn't even last the first game. People didn't dig up on it. So toward the end of the fourth quarter, I sent my son. We were sitting on the east side of the stadium, and I sent my son, who's 10 years old, to the other side of the stadium, and I said, Jason, run over there. And when I yell out Arkansas State, you yell back Indians, and I said, Let's get this crowd going with a really good yell. So he went over there, he did it. I yelled, he yelled back by himself, of course, first time. We did it, we did it, we did it about the fifth time people started yelling with us. So that was the beginning of our Arkansas State, what's now Red Wolves, Arkansas State, Red Wolves chant. But that's fantastic. I didn't know you were responsible. That happened 40, 45 years ago. Hallelujah. Yay!

unknown 28:06

Yay!

SPEAKER_03 28:07

And it's just a staple now.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Yeah, it's part of it, and that's neat. Well, and then how about the record? I wrote I wrote a song one time. Are you familiar with that? Vaguely. So remind me. I wish I'd brought uh brought a copy of it with me. Um, the ballad of Indian Joe. Of course, that was back in the day, and we were dressing. Well, we hadn't even built the stadium because the lyrics that I wrote uh starts out uh out on a hill of grass and trees. An Indian with a dream fell to his knees. Here he said, My games will be played, so the hole was dug and the field was made. That's the introduction to it. And so the song goes on, and it speaks of Joe Duran's 63-yard field goal. Okay. Uh, it was written up in the Wall Street Journal. I've got a copy of that and um, but uh Tommy Stringfeller uh provided the music, wrote the music for it. I wrote the lyrics, and we were really excited. We thought it was gonna sell a bunch, so we ordered 5,000 copies uh from uh Coldwater, Mississippi had a record pressing plant, and so we ordered 5,000 copies. Well, before they got it pressed, I thought this is really gonna go well. Let's let's order 5,000 more. Well, at the end of everything, at the end of the season, we still had 8,000 copies left. I think we still have 5,000. It didn't sell all that well, but uh it was a pretty pretty cool song.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

Well, I think to have a copy. Yeah, we need to get that back out there again.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Well, it it uh they played it in the stadium a couple of times over the years.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Okay. Well, I can't think of for just being at a a state football game anymore and not hearing the Arkansas State Red Wolves chant. That's that's just part of the game day experience.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

That's part of it. Thank you, Ken.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Well, yeah, you're welcome. I had to make I had to make an adjustment during all that too, because I moved from one side of the state to the other side. I had to go I had to go to Arkansas State to show the Red Wolves.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Uh that would be tough. Well, am I Red Wolf or am I Arkansas State?

SPEAKER_02 30:19

It's kind of like it's kind of like dancing. You just find somebody, look at somebody who knows what they're doing and do what they do.

SPEAKER_03 30:23

Yeah, there you go. Well, was it hard for all of you? You had been Indians for so long to to transition to being a Red Wolf? Not really.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

It uh it's really been good for the school. Right. Uh I was I was not all in favor of it. Um and the NCAA, it was my thought at the time uh they needed to keep their nose out of our business, but I guess it was their business too. It's been good for Arkansas State.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

It's been wonderful for the school. So, and I love red wolves now, but at the beginning, uh I was gonna be an Indian.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

And and we still wear our Indian garb every once in a while, too.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

But then, you know, and I thought, because coming from Florida, you know, uh we lived south of Tallahassee about 30 miles, and Seminoles got to keep theirs. Of course, the tribe, the Seminole tribe, gave them their permission to keep the name. And I think it was the one of the best things we've ever done.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

Yes, it definitely has caught on. Yes, and the red wolves have become a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

So and we're unique. You know, we're unique in being red wolves, and I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

Now, all right, Mary Nell, I want to get to you. And we talked about van's streaks and what Ken has done. That they've certainly put their mark on Arkansas State. But anytime I think of Mary Nell Masterson, and of course, your husband's always right by your side, John's always there too. I think about just the connection that you have with all of our athletes. And you talk about how you want to get to know them. You want to know who you're cheering for, and you want to know about their lives and how they're doing. And you genuinely care about these coaches and these athletes as human beings, and you want to know every single one of them. And not only that, you want to hug every single one of them.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_03 32:45

So is that just something that comes by nature, or how did that come about?

SPEAKER_00 32:53

I I suppose so. I can't remember. Coach Roberts had just taken over, you know, when we came, and he was so open to to us, to John and me. And I just I started visiting, started getting to know the coaches and the ball players, and we just greet each other and hug each other, and then it just went on and on. And I love it. I do. Uh, you know, I have a tendency, if I see you, I'm gonna hug you.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

You know I am, and I love it every time.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

I'm so glad. I'm so glad. I I haven't been turned down yet.

SPEAKER_03 33:45

Well, good. I I hope nobody turns that down.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

I'm not. I'm I'm I'm genuinely glad to see. I'm a people person. I am, I'll admit that. I get it from my mother, but I I'm genuinely glad to see people and especially the players and the ones that I remember, you know, when Taylor Stockhamer was here last week. I said, I asked him if his boss was gonna let him off to come to all the foundation meetings, and and he said, Oh yes. And I said, Okay, good. You know, I like and I've Brian Groupie stopped a press meeting he was having one time and came over and hugged me. He said, I'm gonna um you'll have to stop. I can't do any more till I do this. And he came over and gave me a hug.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

I'm sure that means the world to you.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Oh, it does, it does. And JD McKissick, you know, he gets up out of from behind his table and comes. And the effort that they put in, and I'm not just talking football, but the effort that those athletes put in to get out there on the floor, the track, the field, whatever, the course that and they go to school and they make good grades. I'm the first one to jump up and clap when they give the you know the grade point average. Uh it's fantastic what they do. I mean, they work out, then they go to practice, they have to study, they have to go to class, they have to do homework, and they have to keep up their grades. It's not just attending class, they have to keep up their grades, and it's it's phenomenal, I think, what those young people do for Arkansas State.

SPEAKER_03 35:54

Well, it's always phenomenal the way you're there for them. And anytime we have a banquet, I know if there's a live auction, then John and Marionelle are going to be bidding on one of the big items. And usually it's associated with something to do with the team. If you're given a chance to be around the team, whether sitting on the bench with the basketball team or being on the sidelines with the football team, that's the one you want because you just want to be around them.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

John hasn't found out how to tie this arm down. Oh, yes, I um I you know, I I told Destiny not too long ago, I said, if I ever win the lottery, I'll give you a million dollars. And she said, Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Well, when we came in, we sat down even before we started recording. It's it's clear that you guys have a bond just because of how long you've been Arkansas State fans. And the bonds, the friendships, just you can't replace those. I mean, those are some that are forged by going through so many emotions, whether you know, it it may be at an event and you get to know each other and and you're in each other's lives, but you've experienced these same highs and lows as a fan. So I guess in a way you can relate to what they've experienced.

SPEAKER_01 37:38

You know, it's really neat when you go to a ball game, especially basketball, because it's you've clocked you've got all the people uh sitting around you. It's really neat because you look around, you know where all your friends and family, everybody see it. So you look, yeah, they're there. Yeah, there. Yeah, I see. And so it is it's uh it's a unique feeling, and always in basketball, uh during before the games, halftime and timeouts, always look over to Van and he's sitting there reading you his baseball statistics. Oh, what a guy.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Yeah, but you're you wouldn't have it any other way, would you, man? Well, you get it, yeah. Actually, pretty good developed friendships with baseball too, because you have you have you have you have the between innings, so you always have so many breaks where you can get to know the people that sit around you with you every game and stuff like that. Yeah, that's that's part of the fun.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Well, you know, we sit for we sat in the same seats since we've come back to Townsburl, but I sat on the tenth row in the stadium, and you remember when they built all that up, wanted you to buy, you know, load boxes, suites, right? I said, I'm sorry, that's my seat. I can't do it. I said, I've got to be down here with my guys.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

I have to be with my guys, and another person that we can throw in the super fan category is Governor BB. And yes, he's as big of a football fan as there is, and he's got the best seat in the house. I I've always thought, you know, just sitting in the first row, upper deck of the 50-yard line, there's there's not a better place to sit. And look, he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to uh be talking, he wants to be concentrating on the game.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Leave him alone. He's interested in the game.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

I remember when Coach Keaty was working with me for all those years, you know, Governor BB, and he was governor for a good part of that time, he would get away from people just so he didn't have to talk to people, and he'd sit right behind me and Coach Keaty in the booth so he could concentrate on the game. So I know all you guys can relate to that. I do before we get out of here today, I want to hear some of your favorite memories because you've seen so many great games as fans and and been able to witness so much. But I'll start with you, Van. Okay, I go for one freak sport. Sure, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

Ms. Basketball, the uh the year we won the Sunbell tournament win the Silverway tournament, right the last few seconds of the game, Chico's go around half court, maybe a few feet in a second court. He makes us push past the CJ paper for a duck like called the exclamation point on the CWA tournament bid. Well, that's a really good one to have. Yeah, what was not so good was when we we played Mississippi Valley at midnight game. And I'm sitting there, I stay, I stayed for the entire game, but we got beat by like 12 or 14 points. Like I'm there first time ever, first time I've ever left the game at two o'clock in the morning. Women's basketball, it's the of course the winning the beating James Madison win the tournament and the WIT is those are like co-fake co-favorite memories. Fact uh uh the year before last when uh I must have had in the 50th or something when we the women beat Arizona State on the road. I sent a message saying saying one one away, one night, one win down, 19th for your first 20 win season. And what happens? We have the 1020 that year. Fantastic. And you got a favorite football moment? Oh, of course, but the miracle, the miracle of Memphis, and but one uh one uh Scott Roper, who eventually came to our kicker here, he misses a uh he misses a uh game-winning field goal attempt. And I was working as a ball boy in that game, so I was down there that was treated the kick. I must have I must have had five people ask me, so was the kick really missed?

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Well, yeah, it was really missed.

SPEAKER_03 41:46

All right, Kim.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Well, he said something about Scott. I don't know if everybody here knows, but Scott had a stroke last week. Oh, and he's been in St. Bernard's Hospital um all this uh over a week now, and uh he's not doing very well, but I guess today was his best day. They got him up out of bed. He sat in a chair, he has been intubated, but they they took the uh uh breathing tube out. Uh he's still got a feeding tube, and it's gonna be a long road to recovery. So uh I'd like to ask everybody to prayers for Scott Roper and and his wife Vanessa, who's by his side all the time right now. But um he Scott's been a good friend of mine ever since he went to school here. Great family. He runs the uh code for City, City of Johnsburg. He's a code uh top code officer. So anyway, y'all give you prayers for Scott and Vanessa. Uh my best basketball man, I well, I've you've got so many. Uh Chico Fletcher jumping up on the uh announcer's desk, Big Al shooting a three when he was supposed to pass off to win the game, um just going down and to the NCAA tournament and and playing Utah. Uh there's so many things. Uh um just I t I tell you, in football, I'm still having great memories because of our players that are in the pros right now. Boy, our guys are doing so well in the pros, so that's uh that's a big deal. Um just when you have memories of game-winning shots or big plays or interceptions for touchdowns, you know, you just get so excited. You're jumping up and down and yelling and screaming, and uh it's it's just a lot of fun. How about uh last year when we when we won what four games in the fourth quarter in the last couple of minutes? I mean, wow, what an exciting season. Yeah. So it it's fun. There's so many memories. A lot of memories.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

I can't I can't pick out one either. Uh You don't have to. Are there a couple that come to mind? No. I just I think about the people and the players and and you know all the ones I've seen and and one I would love to see. And you know, you remember Kai M Burns?

SPEAKER_03 44:18

Sure. Fantastic player.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

I watched Kai M one time at a basketball game. He and ball players were up watching little kids on the floor doing their routine. And when they finished, they went up the stairs and they came and they went by the ball players. Kai M high-fived every one of those small kids, you know, and told them they did a good job.

SPEAKER_03 44:54

You remember that?

SPEAKER_00 44:55

I certainly I remember that. In fact, the next time I saw his mama, I told his mama about that. And she said, I told him people are always watching him, you know, but he he just has my heart still today for for doing, and I'm sure other i I witnessed it. So I, you know, he he sticks out to me. And Carlos McKinsez, Carlos McKinsey became our son, you know.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Right. You know, he just he's doing great things, and you think of how and because you are around these athletes so much and you you've invested so much in them, it makes you that much happier when they do go on and succeed.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

We're so proud of Isaiah, you know, Isaiah Nelson. Sure, Nelson. And you know, and I have no doubt that when he, you know, when he said, When I can, I'm gonna I'm gonna be here every day. I'm gonna work and get better, and and I will be back on the floor, you know, after he broke the bone. And I have no doubt he will, you know, and anybody who loves kids as much as Isaiah does, it's gonna be successful. You know, the kids loved him and he loved the kids, and I love it.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

We've done a lot of reminiscing and uh it's been good, but you're still super fans, as hard of super fans as there are right now. So I want to know, looking forward, what excites you about what's going on here at Arkansas State, man. I'll start with that.

SPEAKER_02 46:43

Okay, for asked that uh can mention the the big owl shot. I actually have a story that goes with it. Okay, let's hear the shot. So earlier I'm sitting there watching the practice, and there's out owls out there, and he takes a shot from out there somewhere and misses. Coach Cat goes running up to him, gets gets nose to chest, saying, Why'd you shoot that? He said, Because I was open. And so Kat points to have courses. I can stick you out there, you'd be open too. But the strange part is the shot where he took that shot from was first in the same spot where he hit the shot against Cincinnati. What excites you right now? Yeah, I think uh I think I think things a little bit in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and in baseball. I mean, more exciting than having all the sports on the uprise. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Well, what excites me today is uh I can't wait for the Memphis game. Uh what have we got? Three, four, four weeks.

SPEAKER_03 47:45

Yeah, when this comes out, it'll be three weeks. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Okay. Uh yeah. Um I'm I'm excited for all of our sports right now. I don't know any place that we're not uh trending upward. Right. So boy, right, not many, not many uh schools can say all of their sports are doing well, and all of our sports are doing well. I agree, and that's exciting.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

I just stay excited, you know. Whatever's going on, I'm ready for. And let's cheer and let's do this. I'm really excited about football. I I adore Butch Jones. He came in with an objective, and he's he's followed through. I I admire him tremendously, and his family is fantastic. Coach Pannone is the most genuinely nice person in the world, and he opens all of his practices. If you want to go to practice, you're welcome, you know. Dez Dez is pretty much the same way. Uh, and I I like the culture, you know. Coach Jones used that word the other night, didn't he? Talking about culture. I like what we're doing, where all the teams are working and working as hard as they can. All the coaches seem to have that camaraderie that we haven't always seen. You know, you would see one over here, one over there, you know, and now they seem to be very cohesive together and they support each other. And I don't think you can beat that. You know, that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

Well, as we wrap it up, I I just want to say to each of you, thank you on behalf of the entire fan base because you guys kind of set the standard of what it is to be a true Arkansas State fan. And as we've talked about here, you've all left your mark in some type of way, and it hasn't had to be on the court or on the field, but you've still made an impact here at Arkansas State. So thank that that's each and every one of us.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

And it's so nice of you, and we support you. Yeah, we all appreciate you too, Matt. We really do. And Grizz is one of my guys, you know.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Grizz is one of everybody's guys.

SPEAKER_00 50:27

You know, we we love him when he was playing here, you know. I knew Grizz then.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

Well, he's he's still the same great guy right now. We've got a lot of good people on this campus, a lot of great people to cheer for. And uh thank you guys for coming in. We I thought this would be fun and it certainly lived up to the hot.

SPEAKER_00 50:50

It has been fun. I looked forward to it, and let's do it again.

SPEAKER_03 50:56

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