Saturday, March 20, 1999
Mason goes north, nuts
Town follows team to another win
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLUMBUS — Thelma Case gripped the handrail so she could scale the concrete steps in St. John Arena while her husband, Luther, carried her walker.
They were making their way to their seats Friday night, but the stairs hardly sapped their energy.
The couple, in their 80s, enthusiastically cheered their beloved Mason Comets girls basketball team to a close victory Friday over Toledo Central Catholic as they came one step closer to being crowned national and state champs.
The Cases, members of the Mason Seniors Pep Club, a collection of senior citizens who have unofficially adopted the team as their own, joined 2,000-plus green-and-white-clad fans Friday.
The final test for the team ranked No. 1 in the country by USA Today comes tonight when they play Pickerington High School.
Whether they arrived in soaped-up minivans or chartered buses, these Mason fans were giddy and loud after their two-hour trek. They greeted one another with hugs and high fives, some sporting green face paint and bandanas, others neatly coiffed, almost all sporting T-shirts and sweat shirts with team colors.
Mrs. Case nervously chewed her gum and clutched her husband's knee when there was a two-point difference in the third period. They stood and cheered as their “super gals” pulled off the victory.
The couple have faithfully followed the team all season.
“I just think they're a good bunch of girls,” Mrs. Case had said earlier in the day, before boarding the tour bus in a church parking lot across the street from Mason High School.
Morgan Moore, 14, started cheering early for the team — as their bus swung by the Middle School, students wished them off with signs and screams.
School officials had planned a surprise send-off, complete with green and white balloons sent flying and a police escort through town. The team, in turn, tossed candy to grade-schoolers.
So Morgan couldn't resist a grin that flashed her green braces — a tribute to the team — as she and her mother, Cindy Moore, stood outside St. John Arena later Friday.
Mrs. Moore, a lifelong Mason resident, hasn't seen so much excitement since a certain amusement park set up shop nearby.
“There's as many people at the games as there used to be in town,” Mrs. Moore said. “It's the biggest thing that hit Mason since Kings Island came to town.”
So it came as no surprise why fans streamed up the interstate and filled the stands Friday.
“This is typical of Mason. Even though it has grown tremendously in the last few years, it still has that small-town atmosphere,” said Dee Schuessler, a member of the pep club.
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