Southern Jaguar fans, player enjoy fan day

Members of the Jaguar Nation gathered at Smith-Brown Memorial Union Saturday, August 24 for “Fan Day”, an annual event where fans got to meet and greet this season’s Southern University Jaguar football and volleyball teams.
Usually, the event is held at All-Star Automotive, a corporate sponsor of the Southern University System Athletic Foundation. According to Don Shelmire, an organizer of the annual event since 1997, the event was held on campus to accommodate students who didn’t have means to leave campus.
“Fan day is for players to interact with fans”, Shelmire said.
Jaguar volleyball assistant coach Natasha Anderson and the Jaguar volleyball team were out meeting and greeting their fans as they introduced the five new additions to this season’s team.
“I think that it is going to be a very successful season. We have a lot of challenging matches coming up, but we have a lot of new people coming in to help us out”, notes Anderson.
As the day’s festivities came to a close, members of both teams were introduced to the fans.
Junior lineman Eddie Green showed great enthusiasm that stirred the crowd when he was introduced, but it was sophomore kicker Colby Miller that got the loudest cheers.
“I was surprised. I figured it would be a receiver to get the greatest ovation,” Miller said.
Also introduced were Terrance Levy and Haywood Gallien. The former Jaguar football players have taken assistant coaching positions on the sideline to help head coach Pete Richardson.
“It’s great coaching because I’m still part of the team”, Gallien said. “I was coaching while I was playing and helping others, out so there really no big difference.”
The day proved to be a great success, as members of the media and the faithful Jaguar Nation ate, drank, and received autographs and conversation time from the Jaguar players.
“I look forward to this every year,” exclaims Monique Harris. “This is really a good promotion for the students, the team, and the school. It just makes me love the Jags even more!”