Loyal to a fault to my alma mater

For anyone who has been to our Tallmadge, Ohio home, there’s no doubt that I am a WVU fan.

My den is called “a WVU shrine.”

Just check out the photo above.

Every wall is adorned with Mountaineer memorabilia.

Mountaineer Field crowds photos from the Boston College and Baylor games.

“Hail, West Virginia!” words on a wooden frame.

WV clock.

WV drapes.

WVU pillows.

Books by Don Nehlen, Jerry West and Mickey Furfari.

Footballs autographed by Daryll Talley and brother John Talley. Another with Noel Devine’s signature.

Male and female WVU gnomes statuary.

WVU car flag.

West Virginia Fan Cave sign.

Three WVU rugs on the den floor, including the West Virginia and Mountaineers football field replica.

Not in the photo montage:
 
The downstairs bathroom, with WVU shower curtains and 3 WVU towels.

My bedroom, with the WVU pillow that goes the width of the bed so that I go to sleep  and wake up with West Virginia literally on my mind. And snug under my WVU comforter.

 

Dozens of clothes with WV on them in my closet. Another dozen socks and handerchiefs in my drawer emblazoned with WV. 

Or the 2012 Honda Accord with JO 4 WVU on my Ohio license plate.

And my golf bag with West Virginia and Mountaineers all over it, including the head covers for the woods.

Or the WVU flag whipping in the wind above the garage door.

Or another WVU flag in the flower bed outside our living room window.

Or – try to top this – the “WV” under the names of my late wife, Monnie Elizabeth Turkette Olesky, and me in the double grave marker at Northlawn Memorial Gardens in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. That way, I can look up at the WV for eternity once they bury me there.

I guess I’m obsessed about my alma mater.

Maybe that’s why I’ve had season tickets to Mountaineeer Field for at least a couple of decades, attend every home game and have traveled to WVU games at LSU, Auburn, Colorado and South Florida.

I know I’m not alone. West Virginians are fiercely loyal to the Mountaineers.

I’m doing my part.