When Southeast Missouri’s softball team clinched a berth in the NCAA tournament this season, it was the first time in two decades that the Redhawks would play in the Regional round of the postseason. The long-awaited return to postseason play invigorated the team’s fanbase, many of whom followed the team to Oxford, Mississippi on the program’s first postseason trip since 1999.
As the Redhawks took to the field for the regional opener, a full section of the bleachers donned SEMO gear. The team’s fans made themselves known, cheering loudly and often for their beloved Redhawks.
On the front row of the SEMO cheering section sat an elderly gentleman. Dressed handsomely in a button-down, long-sleeved shirt; dress slacks; and a SEMO ball cap, he never seemed to be bothered by the Mississippi heat or the beaming sun.
Periodically during the game, he rose from his seat and turned to face the Redhawks fans. “S-E-M-O,” he called out, prompting the crowd to respond in kind with each letter. Often leading the cheers during a half-inning break, more cheers followed until the fans were cheering loudly as their team took to the field or stepped up to the plate.
This spirited gentleman was Dr. Jerry Westbrook. A member of the Southeast Missouri faculty, Dr. Westbrook is a familiar face to Redhawk fans. A fervent SEMO softball fan since 2010, it was a pair of students at an early-morning class that initially piqued his interest in the game.
“I had an 8:00 and a 9:00 class on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” Dr. Westbrook recalled. “Two young ladies – Alora and Amber – were always standing outside, waiting for the 8:00 class to get out. They came in first before anybody else and sat down in the front row. Always had their textbooks, notebooks, and always turned everything in on time.
“One day, they came into class with headphones and laid their heads down on their desks like death,” Dr. Westbrook continued. After being informed that a 5:30 call time for hitting workouts and calisthenics was at the root of the students’ exhaustion, Dr. Westbrook had just one question:
“Who in the world does anything like that at 5:30 in the morning?!”
The answer: ‘softball players’.
Dr. Westbrook had never seen a softball game before, and initially resisted his students’ invitations to come see them play. Eventually, though, he decided to venture out to see the Redhawks on the diamond in-person.
A Decorated Academic
Born in Gilmer, Texas, but a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Dr. Westbrook attended Harding University in Arkansas for his undergraduate work, also receiving a Master’s degree from the school. He later journeyed to none other than the University of Mississippi – indeed, the institution more commonly known as Ole Miss – where he earned his doctorate in higher education administration.
Dr. Westbrook joined the faculty at Ole Miss in the late 1960s, teaching both graduate and freshman seminar courses during his inaugural tenure in Oxford. He also served as the Associate Director of Career Services for twelve years before taking a position at the University of Arkansas.
Titled the Director of Career Planning and Placement at Arkansas, Dr. Westbrook spent five years as a Razorback before returning to his Oxford and his alma mater. Assuming the title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Dr. Westbrook recalls part of that role including going “to every fraternity party, ball game, and tailgate, and pouring out more whiskey than would flood the Mississippi River. And not making many friends doing it, believe it or not.”
After a stint at the University of Chicago – where he mingled with Noble laureates and unfamiliar sub-zero temperatures ‘without including the wind chill’ – Dr. Westbrook joined the faculty at Southeast Missouri. Initially hired as the Director of Career Services in 1995, Dr. Westbrook remains on the university’s faculty roster even at the young age of 81. He presently teaches part-time, including two classes during the school’s fall semester.
A Softball Fan is Born
Dr. Westbrook no longer teaches any classes during the spring semester at SEMO. Why? Because doing so would prohibit him from being able to attend daily softball practice and every Redhawks home softball game.
After Alora and Amber consistently invited him to come see them play softball, Dr. Westbrook finally decided to go to a game and check it out for himself. That game was an ugly one, a double-digit defeat for the Redhawks. After the game, Dr. Westbrook said he questioned why he had spent his time watching such a result. But he quickly checked himself with a reminder that it was first and foremost for his students that he had attended.
Walking away from the softball complex, Dr. Westbrook turned back and met one of his students, who apologized for the team’s performance. Later, another player did the same, but promised that they would do better if he would come again.
“I decided to come back and show them that they had my support,” Dr. Westbrook said. “And then I just started showing up to the games and practices.”
That was in 2010, and Dr. Westbrook’s love for the Redhawks softball team has grown as the years have gone by. He still attends every practice and home game for the team, always leading cheers and energizing the fans in the stands. Though he didn’t travel with them to Oxford, Dr. Westbrook also has a full stock of signs to help him in leading cheers, including individual letters that spell out “SEMO”, as well as “Rowdy” and “Redhawk”, for the team’s mascot that often makes an appearance in the cheers.
“They don’t let you bring them to the tournament, but I use them at every home game and a lot of away games that aren’t in the [NCAA] tournament,” Dr. Westbrook says of his signs.
In between games at the Oxford regional in May, Dr. Westbrook celebrated with fellow Redhawk fans after his team won their first elimination game of the weekend. Receiving high fives as he walked outside the gate, he got a ride on a golf cart to his vehicle, where he enjoyed air conditioning as he waited for his team’s next game to start.
After cooling off for a while, Dr. Westbrook again took a seat in the bleachers, ready to cheer on his beloved team. As the Redhawks prepared to bat in the first inning, he rose from his seat and faced the fan section, pointed his finger in the air as an orchestra director raising his baton, and began to call out the familiar cheer: “S-E-M-O”.
That game ended in a lopsided loss for his Redhawks, eliminating the team from the postseason. A decade earlier, such a result had sent Dr. Westbrook scuttling to his vehicle. Now, though, he never took a step away from his spot in the stands, remaining at the forefront of the SEMO faithful, ready to encourage the Redhawks team members as they left the field, ever their supporter after wins and after losses.
