Why Is This Football Player Sitting in the Stands?

Go to any sporting event and you’ll see something which, in any other context, may be weird: customers are wearing the same clothes as the employees of the business. Imagine walking around Best Buy wearing a Best Buy shirt and khaki pants (or just watch this prank video) or something like that — it would be ridiculous. But it’s common and accepted — and typically appreciated — when sports fans put on a t-shirt or replica jersey of their favorite team and players, and show up at the ballpark.

But usually, fan attire is limited to a shirt, maybe a hat, and perhaps team-themed shorts or socks or something like that. Typically, you don’t come in with sports equipment (okay, a baseball glove is fine) — like, you wouldn’t wear shoulder pads or a helmet to a football game, right?

Right. Unless you’re Shelton Douthett. Here’s a picture of him at a University of Miami game, cheering on the hometown Hurricanes.

To be clear, Douthett is just a fan in the stands. He’s not a player, even if he’s dressed like one and flexing like he just sacked the quarterback. But if you think that Douthett is just an extreme Hurricane supporter who went overboard, you’re wrong. He’s fulfilling a promise to his brother.

Douthett grew up in the Miami area, raised by a mother who served in the Miami police department. One day, she was assigned to work at a Miami football game and was given some free tickets, so her husband took Shelton and his brother Wayne to the game. The two boys became instant fans and went to games whenever they could thereafter. In 2009, they purchased themselves a season ticket package, as football Saturdays had become a central point of their time together as siblings.

They didn’t just go to home games, either. The Hurricanes played an early season road game versus in-state rival Florida State in September 2009, and the brothers made the nearly 500-mile trip to see that game. It was a Miami win, but the Douthett brothers’ celebration was cut short, as USA Today explains:

Not long after the Florida State game, Wayne developed a cough. Described by his brother as a “gentle giant,” Wayne wasn’t the type of person to complain about much, especially when he wasn’t feeling well.

The family figured the cough was a cold, but one night, Douthett woke up to find his brother sitting up in bed, coughing and heaving. He knew this was something serious, and told his mom they should take his brother to the hospital. There, the family learned Wayne had walking pneumonia.

Shelton spent the next few weeks with Wayne in the hospital, watching the football games on TV. At one point, as Shelton told the Miami Hurricanes’ official news site, “We were watching the game one time and he asked me in his own way, ‘When are you going to wear a helmet and pads to a game?’ We collected jerseys and all kinds of stuff. I said, ‘I’ll wear it to a game when you’re out of the hospital.“ Wayne was joking, of course, but Shelton used that as an opportunity to encourage his brother to get well.

Unfortunately, he never did. Wayne Douthett passed away one evening; the Florida State game was the last one he and Shelton attended together.

Shelton and his family started a scholarship fund at a local school to honor Wayne’s memory, but Shelton wanted to go one further. When the Hurricanes were selected to play in the Champ Sports Bowl in nearby Orlando, Shelton decided to not only attend — but also to fulfill the promise he made to Wayne. Per USA Today, “Douthett bought shoulder pads, cleats and everything needed for the bowl game to fulfill his brother’s request,” and went to the game dressed nearly identically to the players.

Miami lost the game but Douthett won some fans of his own. At first, others were a bit put off by how intense his attire was but, after he shared his story, they not only encouraged him but also donated to the scholarship fund. (Even fans of the other team chipped in.) Douthett’s tribute to his brother won over so many hearts, he decided he had to keep on doing it.

Since then, Douthett regularly shows up in a Hurricanes uniform, doing his best to match the team on the field and to honor his brother’s memory. The hardest part? As he told USA Today, he “plans to always wear the uniforms to games he attends, he just hopes he can always fit into them. He says he goes to the gym to maintain his ‘football shape.’”

Bonus fact: The first black NFL draftee was Wallace Triplett, who was selected in the 19th round of the 1949 draft. Triplett played college football at Penn State, but he almost went to the University of Miami. As his Wikipedia entry notes, “His reputation as a talented high school football player, combined with his upscale address, prompted the University of Miami to offer him a scholarship sight unseen, under the assumption Triplett was white. The then-segregated university rescinded the scholarship when they discovered Triplett was black.” While at Penn State, Triplett was supposed to play an away game at Miami in 1946, but Miami refused to play if Penn State brought Triplett and Dennie Hoggard, the other black player on the Penn State team, to Miami for the game. Penn State decided to cancel the match rather than give in.

From the Archives: This T-Shirt Will Make You Feel Good About the World: Another fan with unique attire.