Wake Forest University moved from Wake Forest ( a small town just north of Raleigh) in the fall of 1956. The daughter of Tobacco magnate RJ Reynolds enticed them to move by building a brand new campus in her back yard. The city of Winston-Salem embraced the new school, and immediately began buying up season tickets to the football and basketball games. Wake added a law school, and medical school - eventually became the single largest employer in the city. From that moment on, my Dad decided that the Deacons would be his team, and from that point on he only had one sticker on any car he owned, "Proud to be a Deacon."
So, since I was born, my family has spent a lot of time together at Wake games - most often watching our Demon Deacons lose heartbreakers. But over time, it became the thing that my family always did together. It has never really mattered that the Deacs are pretty bad - we just always went and hung out together. As dementia slowly took my dad away from me, it was all gradual. Until one day when he completely lost interest, no longer wanted to go to Wake games, and stopped buying season tickets for the first time in his adult life. Yep, that sucked.
So, this past weekend, with heavy hearts, we all went to the Wake-Army football game, and tailgated and cheered for the Deacs. And it was fantastic. It is hard to beat that communal feeling that we get when we are at college football games: the pomp, the cheers, the marching bands, and the fried chicken. My kids love going to Wake football games, and are as comfortable there as they are in their own beds.
Shortly after halftime, as everyone in my family filed back into our seats and watched as the Deacs made an amazing comeback to win. As we all cheered and high fived - Jessica noted that none of us would even be at this game..except for my Dad. He brought us together, and gave us something to smile about.
Proud to be a Deacon.
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