Following in a Seminole Legacy

My mother graduated from Florida State University in 1978 with her bachelor’s degree from the School of Music, and she played Clarinet in the renowned FSU Marching Chiefs. She raised me from the day I was born to be a Seminole.

While the road has not been easy, following in my mother’s footsteps to continue the legacy set forth by her has been a dream of mine to accomplish since I was old enough to start doing the chop. Our family has been Seminole Boosters for almost 30 years, and we regularly attend many home and away football games. I have always been known to most of my peers as among the most passionate fans they knew, and getting the chance to become an actual student to the school I love is a gift I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Growing up in a Seminole Booster household required me to become very acquainted with FSU football, basketball and baseball. To this day, my mother has missed only one football game in Tallahassee in over 30 years. As a child growing up, I would also attend 12-15 basketball games and over 30 baseball games annually with my father. Growing up seeing the deep passion that my parents shared in attending so many sporting events led me to develop into my own true Seminole obsession. FSU games quickly became more than just a hobby, but we recognized it as the true passion that we all shared together as a family. Rarely does an entire family share the same common interest, and I really believe it was the glue that held our family together over many years. Times may not always have been the greatest, but we always knew on trips to Tallahassee that it was a day guaranteed with smiles and sometimes cries. We always knew that it was those moments as a family that we would cherish forever.

On Sept. 16, 2009, my father unexpectedly passed away, and it was a moment that changed our family forever. My mother and I had to make a decision on whether to stop attending the games or try to keep the tradition alive that had always been a part of what we did for so many years. We finished the 2009 season, which was one of the most difficult times in my life. We came to the conclusion that my father would have wanted us to keep going to enjoy something that we loved to do, and knowing his presence is felt so strongly, changed the perspective into something much greater than being at a football game. There are still times where I will look to my right and still expect him to be there, but knowing we are exactly we should be is heartwarming.

Becoming a student at FSU was always one of my father’s greatest goals, he would often tell me growing up. After many years of hard work, to be a student at the university that I so greatly admired for all these years is a gift that nobody will ever quite understand outside of my house. Now that I have achieved one major goal, my next is to earn my bachelor’s degree in communication. Afterward, I plan to get my master’s degree in sports management. I will hopefully be able to show future generations the excitement around sports and maybe start a new legacy for other families down the road.

— Chad Newberry

contributing writer