DIEHARD FAN BLEEDS RED FOR SOUTHEAST

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- John Oliver endures many Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in ardent anticipation of warfare on the hardwood floor of the Show Me Center.

From the time he was an eager, wide-eyed lad of 3, Oliver has religiously attended the Cape Girardeau spectacle of Southeast Missouri State University basketball.

"I've been going since my mother took me to games when I was 3 in 1947," Oliver, an attorney, said from his law office at 400 Broadway. "We lived at 333 North Pacific, about two houses up from the field house. I've literally been going ever since."

Oliver said he's watched Southeast evolve from a small school affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) through the ranks of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II affiliation, and into NCAA Division I next season.

"My family has been going to games since the field house was built," he said. "After it burned down and was rebuilt, we had season tickets in the same place until they closed Houck and built the Show Me Center.

"I think the only home games I've missed since I got out of college in 1969 have been when I was out of town."

Oliver, who also attends many road games, has traveled as far as Springfield, Mass., and Lakeland, Fla., to watch the Indians play, and he regularly drives to conference games in Kirksville, Maryville and Pittsburg, Kan.

He's rarely missed games, home or away, against intense rivals like Southwest Missouri State University at Springfield in the past, or more current rivals like Central Missouri State in Warrensburg or the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Oliver said it's only been in the past 20 years or so that national championships have upstaged the traditional rivalries as far as Southeast fans are concerned.

"The big thing always before was just winning the conference," he said. "If you survived Springfield, it was a good season. It's like that now with Central and will be with (University of Tennessee-Martin) after next year."

Oliver can be seen at home games seated at center-court, about five rows above the media table. He rarely fails to make himself known vocally. Sometimes he is quite vocal. And, he said, his frequent, boisterous chastisement of officials is justified.

"I've never seen a good call made against a SEMO player, at least not in the Show Me Center," he quipped. "But SEMO fans, in particular during the Shumate years, have been very vocal in their support for the team. The truth is, we're pretty doggone-good fans."

He said the only time fans became disruptive at a game was when they showered the court with cups after a "skinny, ignorant" official ejected Indians standout Ray Pugh from a game. "But I think for the most part SEMO fans are extremely well-behaved and supportive," Oliver said.

A general love for the game first enticed Oliver to attend Southeast games, but in the past 10 years he's come to know many of the players and coaches, which has added to his interest in the team. "And, let's face it, everyone loves a winner," he said.

But don't think Oliver is a "fair-weather fan" only. He's seen the Indians suffer through many seasons that weren't nearly as successful as those in the past decade.

"Basketball at SEMO is like basketball anywhere else," Oliver said. "The team's had some ups and downs. There were a lot of years in Houck where you had to lie to get 500" in attendance.

"Now we're looking at one of the top schools in the nation for attendance. We'll be in the upper third instantly in Division I. The fan support here has been remarkable for the last 10 years."

Oliver cited many memorable Southeast games, including NCAA regional championships and final tournament games. But Oliver remembers one game, not for its outstanding play but for what he considers the "worst call" he's ever seen by an official.

"It was in a game we played in Lakeland, Fla., against Florida Southern in the NCAA tournament," Oliver said. "A Southern player knocked Michael Morris down to the floor, stole the ball and made a shot to win the game. Morris was on the floor, the game was over and there was no call."

He readily recalls an almost endless list of past great players at Southeast who he's watched over the years. One player in particular, Chris Edwards, is etched in his memory because of a game with the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Oliver dubbed the contest "The Chair Game."

"UMSL had a kid named (Delondo) Foxx that hit Edwards with an elbow, broke his nose and knocked him out," Oliver said. "Then right after the game some UMSL fan walked behind the bench where Edwards was sitting and hit him over the head with a chair.

"I haven't cared for (UMSL coach) Rich Meckfessel since. Edwards was a heck of a player, but that just wasn't his night."

Other standouts at Southeast who Oliver fondly remembers on the hard court include Carl Ritter, who earned All-America honors in 1963 and 1961 and is Southeast's career scoring leader with 1,916 points; Otto Porter, a 1981 All-American who averaged 25.8 points a game during the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons; Terry Mead, who followed Porter and led the team in scoring during the 1981-82 and '83-84 seasons; Jewell Crawford; Ronny Rankin and Ray Pugh.

And while Southeast has enjoyed probably its greatest success under the wing of current coach Ron Shumate, Oliver said he well remembers pre-Shumate teams that also earned the respect of Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents. Under coach Charles Parsley, for example, Southeast won four consecutive conference titles during the early 1960s.

During Shumate's nine-year reign, the team has won seven conference titles.

Oliver said Southeast's move this fall to NCAA Division I and the Ohio Valley Conference should give the university more prestige, but athletic success might be difficult to achieve immediately.

"I've got mixed feelings about it," he said. "If all you look at is the athletics, I don't think going to Division I is that positive of a move. But in terms of the school, and building a reputation nationally, it's a good attraction. If what's happened to Springfield (Southwest Missouri State made the switch to Division I after the 1980-81 school year) is any guide at all, it ought to be magnificent."

Oliver said Southeast sports like gymnastics, track-and-field and cross country likely will do well immediately at the Division I level, but football and basketball might have more difficulty.

"We can play basketball in the OVC today, but I think we'd be in the middle of the pack," he said. "There are some teams we couldn't get on the court with, and there are some teams that couldn't get on the court with us.

"But we'll be proud of them regardless. The risk is whether we've been spoiled."