TheReff
Rod Griffin
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Remembering Tup Strickland
Posted: November 19, 2013
"It's wrong to hate anybody. But if you absolutely have to hate anybody, pick North Carolina.'' Hugh Strickland's fatherly advice to his son Gary.
Since landing in Winston-Salem in 1978, I've known hundreds, if not thousands, of Wake fans. By far, the best I ever met was Hugh G. Strickland.
Hugh didn't attend Wake. He didn't attend any college. But that didn't keep him from starting and operating a quite successful construction business in town.
When Wake moved to Winston-Salem in 1956, Hugh showed up at the ticket office at brand-spanking new Memorial Coliseum and said he wanted four season tickets courtside. He was a hometown guy, and now he had a hometown team.
From that day until just before he passed away in December in 2001, rare was the Wake basketball game that Hugh didn't attend. I'm talking home and away. So devoted was Hugh Strickland that he set what has to be some kind of record by attending 339 straight games played by the Deacons. It's a story I never tire of telling, how Strickland, over this remarkable streak, was on hand for games at Santa Clara, Tuscaloosa, New Orleans, New York, New York again, Jacksonville, Lincoln, St. Louis, Boston, El Paso, Honolulu, Santa Clara again, Philadelphia, Palm Beach, Denver, Albuquerque and Tempe.
Every time I type that list I feel like I'm singing the great country standard I've Been Everywhere.
On most of those trips, Hugh's wife, Clara, went along. If Hugh Strickland was the greatest Wake fan ever, then Tup, as everyone called her, had to be second.
One of their sons, Gary, is a fast friend who graduated from Wake in 1973 and has served as the scorer for basketball games longer than I've covered the Deacons. And I took over the beat in 1992.
One grandson, David, is a graduate of Wake, and Gary's two other sons, Michael and Scott are also devoted Deacon fans -- though Michael, in his capacity of associate commissioner of the ACC, can't be too overt about his allegiance.
Hugh Strickland was a great friend of Carl Tacy, who on road trips to far-away locales would have Hugh sit on the bench and introduce him as an assistant coach. Hugh was also a great friend of David Odom, who offered, in Hugh's last days, to drive the team bus by the Strickland home to pick him up for a road trip.
Even after Hugh passed, Tup remained one of Wake's most fiercely devoted fans. As recently as this season, I could spot her sitting on the fifth row at Joel Coliseum right across from the visitors' bench.
I have the sad duty of reporting that Tup died Saturday morning at the age of 91. The good news is that she kept her health right up to the end. She also kept her deliciously wry sense of humor.
When she checked into the hospital in her last days, the doctor asked her how she got there.
"In a black Ford,'' she replied.
Tup Strickland's funeral will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. I'm beating myself up because I won't make it, but I have to cover Wake's basketball practice tomorrow to write my advance for Thursday's home game against The Citadel.
I have the solace of knowing that if anybody would want me to miss their service to cover Wake, it would be Tup Strickland. Wake Forest is a lesser place without her.
Posted: November 19, 2013
"It's wrong to hate anybody. But if you absolutely have to hate anybody, pick North Carolina.'' Hugh Strickland's fatherly advice to his son Gary.
Since landing in Winston-Salem in 1978, I've known hundreds, if not thousands, of Wake fans. By far, the best I ever met was Hugh G. Strickland.
Hugh didn't attend Wake. He didn't attend any college. But that didn't keep him from starting and operating a quite successful construction business in town.
When Wake moved to Winston-Salem in 1956, Hugh showed up at the ticket office at brand-spanking new Memorial Coliseum and said he wanted four season tickets courtside. He was a hometown guy, and now he had a hometown team.
From that day until just before he passed away in December in 2001, rare was the Wake basketball game that Hugh didn't attend. I'm talking home and away. So devoted was Hugh Strickland that he set what has to be some kind of record by attending 339 straight games played by the Deacons. It's a story I never tire of telling, how Strickland, over this remarkable streak, was on hand for games at Santa Clara, Tuscaloosa, New Orleans, New York, New York again, Jacksonville, Lincoln, St. Louis, Boston, El Paso, Honolulu, Santa Clara again, Philadelphia, Palm Beach, Denver, Albuquerque and Tempe.
Every time I type that list I feel like I'm singing the great country standard I've Been Everywhere.
On most of those trips, Hugh's wife, Clara, went along. If Hugh Strickland was the greatest Wake fan ever, then Tup, as everyone called her, had to be second.
One of their sons, Gary, is a fast friend who graduated from Wake in 1973 and has served as the scorer for basketball games longer than I've covered the Deacons. And I took over the beat in 1992.
One grandson, David, is a graduate of Wake, and Gary's two other sons, Michael and Scott are also devoted Deacon fans -- though Michael, in his capacity of associate commissioner of the ACC, can't be too overt about his allegiance.
Hugh Strickland was a great friend of Carl Tacy, who on road trips to far-away locales would have Hugh sit on the bench and introduce him as an assistant coach. Hugh was also a great friend of David Odom, who offered, in Hugh's last days, to drive the team bus by the Strickland home to pick him up for a road trip.
Even after Hugh passed, Tup remained one of Wake's most fiercely devoted fans. As recently as this season, I could spot her sitting on the fifth row at Joel Coliseum right across from the visitors' bench.
I have the sad duty of reporting that Tup died Saturday morning at the age of 91. The good news is that she kept her health right up to the end. She also kept her deliciously wry sense of humor.
When she checked into the hospital in her last days, the doctor asked her how she got there.
"In a black Ford,'' she replied.
Tup Strickland's funeral will be 2 p.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. I'm beating myself up because I won't make it, but I have to cover Wake's basketball practice tomorrow to write my advance for Thursday's home game against The Citadel.
I have the solace of knowing that if anybody would want me to miss their service to cover Wake, it would be Tup Strickland. Wake Forest is a lesser place without her.
