What makes a sports fan? How to answer that question?  Did you cheer for the Patriots or the Giants in this year’s Super Bowl?  Do you pull for Coach K. and his Duke Blue Devils basketball team?  Or does Carolina basketball with Roy Williams shouting instructions from the sideline send your blood pressure skyward?  And we can’t leave out cheering for the Davidson Wildcats and their successful basketball team.  Were you awake for hours with your adrenalin still flowing after Davidson’s double-overtime win, 93-91, over the Western Carolina Catamounts last night?  What a thriller!  Go Cats!

Yes, professional football season is behind us.  Spring training is just getting started for baseball fanatics.  Go Red Sox!  College basketball tournaments will continue until the Final Four in New Orleans in April.  Professional basketball has a lot of fans “pumped” watching the rise of Harvard-educated Jeremy Lin playing for the Knicks.  We can’t forget that NASCAR is a year-round fan favorite in the Carolinas.  Indeed fans of all sizes abound in our area but how many have a room in their home dedicated to a particular team?  And how many can boast that they have been a FAN for the past 32 years and have a basement full of memorabilia to prove it!

Today Around Davidson introduces you to such a fan:  Tommy Walker.  Seldom does this column focus on a single individual but we think this remarkable fan-tastic sports fan-atic deserves his own space.

It was a dream come true for Dolphin fan Tommy Walker to stand center field at Dolphins stadium with his wife, Beverly.

MEET TOMMY WALKER – The Dolphin’s No. 1 FAN!

Does your washing machine need repair?  Has the freezer conked out?  It is time to call Tommy’s Appliance Service and talk to Beverly Walker who will ask the right questions about make and model number of your appliance and then send her husband, Tommy, to find a cure for your ailing unit.  Many of our area residents are familiar with Tommy and his panel truck, his kind and efficient manner and his truthfulness in telling you the appliance in question is “over the hill” and needs replacing.

But how many know that Tommy is a die-hard Miami Dolphins’ fan?  He can talk Dolphins history dating back to when the team was established in 1965 and began playing in the American Football League (AFL) as an expansion team in 1966.  Remember their 1972 undefeated season, winning all regular season games, play-off games and Super Bowl VII?  (That record still stands.)  Don Shula is coach most often associated with the name Miami Dolphins.  He is considered the most successful head coach in professional football history counting total games won.  And how about the legendary quarterback Dan Marino?  Tommy can tell you about all these men.

A big thumbs up from a happy fan

Tommy has Dolphins’ merchandise collected over the past four decades, has been to four Dolphin away games, has missed only one televised game since 1993 but never attended a home game.  His beloved “Fins” play in the Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  Tommy decided last fall that a road trip to Miami to attend a home game was his goal.  He found tickets on Craig’s List but before purchasing them, had the wisdom to call the Dolphins home office and check that the seller was honest.  Smart move.  The tickets were in fact bogus.  However, Tommy’s contact with the home office proved providential.  Tommy told the folks in Miami Gardens of his devotion to the Dolphins and his merchandise collection including 110 hats!  He even sent the home office photos of the area of his home displaying his Dolphin memorabilia.

The result of Tommy’s phone calls to Dolphin’s personnel, especially a man named Hayden Trepeck, was a magical New Year’s weekend in Miami Gardens as guests of the Miami Dolphins.  From tours of the stadium to complimentary golf, New Year’s game day tickets to parking passes, Tommy and his wife, Beverly, were treated like royalty.  (Click here for a report of the trip in Tommy’s own words.)

Kudos to the kindnesses and generosity of the Miami Dolphins –  enough to make this NC No. fan float on air with memories for a lifetime.  What a wonderful holiday trip for Tommy and Beverly Walker who cannot tell you enough about the excitement of their days in South Florida and the wonderful people they met.  If Tommy’s blood was not flowing aqua and orange before, it certainly is now!

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Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbarger@bellsouth.net.