Newberry Fans,

I’m really proud of our football team. We celebrated winning the 2016 South Atlantic Conference Championship last season by going undefeated in league play. We entered this season with high hopes, but started the season with two losses. We bounced back with four consecutive wins, and have two great SAC road wins after victories at Carson-Newman and Lenoir-Rhyne. But so far, my favorite moment of the season was after the game at Carson-Newman.

We received a letter from a Carson-Newman fan. He and his wife are graduates of C-N, but the reason he wrote is really special to us at Newberry College. Following the game, their two-year-old daughter saw Newberry quarterback Nick Jones, and she wanted to give him a high five. Nick walked over to the little C-N fan, gave her a high five, and spoke to her and her parents. Then, another 30 or so Newberry players came over and also exchanged high fives with the two-year-old fan. She called the Newberry players her new friends. Fast forward to dinner that night and she gave the blessing. According to her dad, the prayer included thanking God for her new friends from the Newberry football team.

This story is what athletics at Newberry College is all about! We played a quality opponent, and made new friends after the game by reaching out to a two-year-old! I’ve spoken with her father, and I have invited them to Newberry next season when Carson-Newman comes to town. We’ll have a nice parking spot and tickets for our new friends.

I’m grateful to Nick Jones and his teammates for being humble in victory and giving a two-year-old and her parents a special memory. And I am proud of Coach Todd Knight and his staff for recruiting these young men and encouraging them to represent our institution exactly like they did!

It’s great to be a part of the Newberry Wolves Nation!

Ralph Patterson

Contributing Columnist

Ralph Patterson is the director of athletics at Newberry College.