By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MIDDLETOWN - This city's biggest prep sports fan, beloved for his decades of giving his all in cheering on the "Middies," got to be on the receiving end recently as residents helped James "Pete" Snow celebrate a donated $10,000 addition to his home.

Mr. Snow, who uses a wheelchair and is known as "Mr. Middie" for his decades of enthusiastic support of Middletown High School sports, received the generosity of a local church charity and hundreds of fellow fans who helped create a therapy area, bathroom and shower for him.

On Nov. 3 about 75 supporters helped unveil Mr. Snow's home addition on Greenview Drive Celebrants were serenaded by a choir from Middletown's Bethlehem Lutheran Church as Mr. Snow thanked the crowd and cited his many blessings despite being partially paralyzed in a car accident two years ago.

"There are such good people in this area and they poured their hearts out to me. It makes me feel that God has blessed me a lot and we're making a lot of new friends," said Mr. Snow, 63, referring to his wife, Marie, whom he credits with helping him progress closer to a fully active life.

Since 1949, Mr. Snow has passionately backed the school, volunteering and energetically representing the best of Middletown's prep sports tradition. He has resumed attending football and basketball games and other sporting events, including the Middies' state championship track performance last spring.

Though more than $10,000 was raised, primarily through the Lutheran Fraternal Insurance Companies grant program, the Rev. Gene Leiter said the value of donated services - including construction by Habitat for Humanity - was closer to $20,000.

The fund-raising on Mr. Snow's behalf reflected Middletown residents' desire to aid a promoter of youth sports in the city and a counselor for troubled teens, the Rev. Leiter said.

"They wanted to give back to someone who has given us so much. Pete is a phenomenon of what a real person is," he said, adding that the celebration crowd at Mr. Snow's home included many parts of the city's population.

"You had high school kids there, retirees, African Americans, whites, Hispanics, Baptists, Lutherans and more. They were there to do what is right,'' he said.

E-mail mclark@enquirer.com