Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award Steve Gleason

WSU, we have arrived.  We fought some traffic but we made it in time to Steve receive the most prestigious award WSU gives out.  Another unique experience for Mike and I.   The stadium was decked out for the day.  

I pretty much had to force Mike to stand and take this picture.  He will thank me someday!  

 Kim, Tim and their kids joined us.  Tim is not very cooperative when it comes to picture taking.

There was a big crowd.  Mike met Scott.  Scott lives in New Jersey.  He was in Seattle for work and heard about Steve's award.  He decided to get in his car and drive to Pullman for the chance to meet Steve.  He talked to Mike for awhile about how much Steve meant to him.  Yes, he did get to meet Steve!

 Two goof balls for sure!

Here we go.  If I remember correctly this man was one of the WSU regents.  He was so nervous.  He talked about how often he did public speaking with no problem.  This time not so much.  He really was nervous.  You could tell.  He wanted all to be perfect.

 He did a nice job honoring Steve!

 Steve's buddy Grady was next.  Also, a great tribute to Steve.

One thing that Grady said that struck me was that even if Steve hadn't been diagnosed with ALS he still would have been up there getting this award.  He said as we all talk about doing things Steve goes out and does them.  If it wouldn't have been his work with ALS it would have been something else.

Grady was talking about Steve's character.  He quoted Coach Price referencing Steve.  I won't get it exactly right but here goes...You can judge a person's character buy the way he treats someone who can do nothing for him.

 Now the president of WSU who listed many of Steve's accomplishments

Steve's turn.  I wish I would have taken video of Steve's speech.  It was beautiful and of course humorous.

 Of course Steve prepares the speech ahead of time and then plays it.  He seemed pretty emotional during the speech.

And not the standing O!  I don't know who started the WSU fight song but the crowd was singing it loud and proud.  I had tears in my eyes and so did a lot of others.  It was so moving!  Wish you could have been there!!!

 Yes, again I had to persuade Mike to climb up on the stage for this picture.  Once in a lifetime!

 Michel is not cooperating!

 Much better!

There were snacks and drinks after the ceremony.  I thought the ceremony was great, wonderful and nicely done!

 One last photo session!

 GO COUGS! NO WHITE FLAGS!

Well, We Had Fun Spending the Day Together! Apple Cup 2016

The newspaper titled the article in the newspaper Black Friday.  Accurate, if you are only talking about the football game.  We had a great time being at WSU in the drizzly, cold weather watching football and being together.  Just being in the atmosphere was great most of the time.  We got to the stadium pretty early thankfully and did some walking around.  We heard lots of stories of people coming even a little later than we did and being in a backup starting in Colfax which is about 15 miles from Pullman. 

 Tell me you are taking the picture next time Mike.

 The atmosphere was full of energy before the game started!  It was great fun!

 Look who we found at the Cougar store.  Katie and her lifelong friends, Katie S., Theresa, and Megan.  

 Blurry but I still added it! Family!

Also blurry but I love this picture!

 And here is the gang!

Pete stopped Mike as we were walking back to our car to get our game day gear on.  Pete went to school with Steve.  Mike was his baseball coach in grade school.

 Just taking some pictures on the way back to the car before the game.

 Tailgating at its finest.

 Go Cougs!

We found Santa Claus!  I sat next to a little boy at the game.  He was 6 years old.  Wyatt was his name. I was looking through my pictures and he was watching me.  I showed him the picture below and his eyes opened really wide!  Santa is here?  Yes, I said.  What did he say?   I said not much.  I just asked him if I could have a picture with him.  Santa said, Ho Ho Ho and yes.  He was silent and then said, Santa said, HO HO HO? Yes I said!  Wyatt just said, WOW!  About 15 minutes later I was looking through my pictures again and Wyatt was watching.  I said, You want to see the picture of Santa don't you? Yes!  I showed it to him again.  Wyatt asked a bunch of questions.  It was adorable.  He did not understand why Santa would be at a Cougar game.  He was so very excited that he was at the game and wanted to know where he was.  I told him I didn't know.  The last question he asked me was one he repeated several times.  Why Santa was at the game? I said he was probably a Cougar fan.  Wyatt nodded once and said, Yes he probably is.  That was the end of our Santa conversation.

 Seniors were introduced!

 The band played and everyone was excited!

 Here come the Couuuuuuuuugs with their mascot Butch!

 Cracraft was injured and wasn't able to play in this Apple Cup.  He raised the Cougar flag!

The game starts and so ends all the excitement at least for the Cougar fans.  There were a few glimmers of hope during the game but none of them panned out.

 Lots of actions shots!

 Number 34 is still on the field but it isn't a Gleason jersey now! We saw Steve on the big screen a couple of times.

 Well, here it is! A touchdown.  The Cougs needed a few more of these.

 The Cougs are back after halftime.  Maybe this half will be different.  It wasn't!

 I would not want to get hit by the Husky following Falk!

 This didn't work!

It was a great season and it isn't over yet.  Mike and I had fun just being there and yes it would have been better if the Cougars had one or at least made it a close game.  It is always a good time being in Pullman watching some football especially if Mike and I are together.  We have a lot of great memories at game in Pullman.  A game here was actually one of our first dates, even though we didn't call it a date.  It was.  Go Cougs!