Teammates For Life

…could be moved to some other category…but heck of story.

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I briefly met Fitzhugh at the 2004 National Youthworkers Convention. He was speaking at a main session. The group I was with had one other who attended Miami and the others attended various colleges but were OSU fans. They never could understand why I would root for my school rather than OSU. :roll_eyes: After he spoke, two of our group wanted to catch him and tell him how meaningful they found his talk. I lagged behind a few steps. When I came up, he noticed the Miami shirt I had on. His comment was, “Wow Miami! Isn’t Ben doing awesome, and now that Josh has settled down they are putting together a pretty good year.” I replied about the game I had been to the weekend before, and we had a 30 second conversation about Miami football. Meanwhile, all the OSU fans with me stood there with their mouths hanging open.
It’s always been a fun memory for me. My father found out he had kidney cancer almost 3 years ago this time of year, and we lost him in January 2021. I pray he receives one soon and for his recovery.

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When Derek played at Miami, his Mom and Dad had seats next to me. I had already been following his career because he played at a local high school ( Sidney), but even more so because there was a connection. His Dad was the preacher at the Sidney First Methodist church, and my sister was the organist and Music director at that church. Derek has followed in his father’s footsteps in also becoming a Minister. These were very impressive men, and I am not surprised to read this story.

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Love + Honor…a lot more than just the first three words to the fight song isn’t it?

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“We say Love & Honor because…”

Fitzhugh was an incredible athlete AND an all-around great/nice person.

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