Bud Rowley is a man of few words ? and most of them are usually about football or football.
But at the Senior Athletic Awards Ceremony Monday night, Oxford’s tough-guy coach spoke about someone near and dear to him as he honored the school’s Number One Fan ? Helen Smith.
‘Helen Smith is close to my heart,? he told the crowd. ‘She bleeds blue and gold!?
Rowley presented Smith with a special varsity jacket, the back of which contained the words ‘Oxford Varsity Super Booster? surrounded by patches representing all the school’s various sports.
Although she graduated OHS in 1952 and all three of her children have long since graduated, Smith is still a familiar face at many school sporting events.
‘You hear a lot of parents say, ‘I’m gonna come and watch that football game! I’m gonna come back and watch that basketball game,?? Rowley said. ‘Helen Smith has been coming back since 1952.?
‘She’s always there,? the coach noted. ‘She was at the baseball game Saturday. It was 85 degrees and there was Helen Smith out there.?
A member of the Oxford Wildcat Booster Club from its founding in the late 1960s through its dissolution in 2005, Smith was responsible for honoring the senior athletes with plaques and banquets every single year for 30 straight years.
‘She gives her time, her energy, her money to Oxford athletics,? Rowley said. ‘I’m gonna tell you people you’re very, very lucky to have a fine person like this, who believes in high school athletics and high school kids and Oxford.?
‘She is the original Oxford Wildcat!?