Virginia Basketball’s Biggest Fan
Seasons come and seasons go. It is bittersweet to be here without our beloved Coach Tony Bennett, who retired last month, and the biggest UVA basketball fan ever (and I mean that literally), Mary Jane Chisholm, aka “Gigi”, who passed away this past spring at 97 years old.
My grandmother Gigi loved, adored and cherished Tony Bennett and the UVA basketball program. In her later years, she suffered from dementia but she never forgot Tony’s name and she never spoke of him without a sparkle in her eye. There wasn’t a day that passed that she wouldn’t ask about the schedule, off-season included, and express her anticipation for the next game. Sometimes the games were too late for her, so we recorded them. Sometimes she watched replayed games like a scout, never able to get enough. Being a UVA basketball fan was truly one of the high points of her life.
Gigi and my grandfather, Morris, aka “Sweetie”, attended the first UVA basketball games at U-Hall starting in 1965. They also attended every ACC tournament in Raleigh, NC, starting in 1954. One year there was a snow storm and Sweetie insisted that they could travel home. He left the motel, started the car, attempted to back out and then came back in telling Gigi that they were staying. She was gracious enough to let Sweetie figure it out for himself even though she knew that they were staying all along.
Every basketball season, we would go to all the games and sit near friends at U-Hall and be filled with the contagious spirit of the games. I grew up in the grand era of the Ralph Sampson years from 1979 to 1983. These were glorious times and we had a blast cheering on Coach Terry Holland’s team.
Coach Bennett came along in 2009 and Gigi fell in love. In 2019, UVA won the National Championship and Bennett achieved god-like status. If you are a UVA fan, you will remember it as one of the greatest moments in life up there with marriage and childbirth.
We didn’t make the transition to John Paul Jones. Gigi spent her winters in Florida so she gave up her season tickets for a few years. By 2017 she couldn’t travel south and stayed in Virginia year-round. We had lost our standing. I had taken over her finances but had no idea that you had to make a substantial gift to the UVA athletic foundation each year to retain seats. Although I tried and tried to get a couple of seats back, I could not. It seems bizarre that a woman as supportive of UVA basketball as my grandmother, who had attended games since the first days, and had given year after year, for 50 years, would lose her spot over a few years of absence. It is unfortunate that politics and money are intertwined these days with something as pure and joyful as college basketball. We took her to a few games and traded nose bleed seats for handicapped spots since she was in a wheelchair, but without a parking pass and familiar faces, it just wasn’t the same so we mostly stayed home and watched from home.
Our existence is ephemeral but the lessons are timeless. Having a team to root for bonds you with your community and gives you spirit and drive. Change is natural but not easy or comfortable. There is an empty feeling as I watch without Coach Bennett on the sidelines, without Gigi in her comfy recliner, new players and all the change that has happened over the year. There is also a comfortable feeling of being back in the audience, watching the team we have loved for so many years and rooting for another great season.
We will never forget Coach Tony Bennett and I will always be thankful for all of the time spent with Gigi, watching the UVA basketball games and rooting for the best team in the world. I am thankful that Gigi passed before Coach Bennett retired because we would be trying to explain why each and every day. She would have missed him more than any other UVA fan.
With a new season, another chapter begins. May the legacy continue. Go Hoos!
