Cheerleader's No. 1 Fan in the Stands

Alvin Denton of Adair County has seen almost every home game his granddaughter,
Jessica, has cheered over the last 12 years.

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- When Lindsey Wilson College and Campbellsville (Ky.) University play basketball tonight at Biggers Sports Center, you can bet Alvin Denton of Adair County will be sitting in the stands.

He rarely misses a game, and not only because he enjoys watching Blue Raider basketball. He also attends the games to support his granddaughter, Jessica, who cheers for the Blue Raiders.

Since Jessica began cheering in the fourth grade, Alvin reckons he has missed only a handful of games she has been on the sidelines.

"I might have missed four games the whole time since she started cheering," Alvin said recently between Lindsey Wilson women's and men's basketball games.

Denton and his wife, Joyce, raised Jessica and her brother, Jared, who is an Adair County High School senior.

"We raised her, and I just always felt responsible for supporting her and her brother in whatever they did," Alvin said. "She always said, 'Poppy, you don't have to come if you don't want to.' But I always managed to get there and support her."

Jessica, who is a Lindsey Wilson junior, said she has wanted to cheer since she was a little girl.

"Whenever I was at games, I would watch the cheerleaders, and I always wanted to be one," she said.

Jessica didn't make the cheerleading team the first time she tried out as a third-grader at the now-defunct Shepherd School, but she made the team in the fourth grade. After cheering five years at Shepherd, Jessica cheered all four years at Adair County High School before joining the LWC squad three years ago. And Alvin has seen almost every cheer she has led.

"It means a whole lot to me because he's always been there for me no matter what," Jessica said.

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LWC and Campbellsvile play a women's-men's doubleheader that begins at 6 p.m. CT Monday, Feb. 25, in Biggers Sports Center. The game is a blackout for LWC fans, which means wear black to the games. Click here to go to the home of Blue Raider Athletics.