Ninety-seven-year-old Dixie “Dee Dee” Walker has been going to Mississippi State baseball games since she was in 10th grade and Dudy Noble himself coached the team.
She and her husband attended games regularly in the ’70s and ’80s, according to Dee Dee’s granddaughter Loraine Walker, and even now Dee Dee tries to attend at least one game a series.
On Friday, Dee Dee’s Mother’s Day weekend began at Dudy Noble Field when she threw out the opening pitch with her six-year-old great-grandson Walker Havelin.
The Macon native, who now lives in Starkville, is more than just your average fan. Over the years she has attended more MSU games than she can remember, occasionally accompanying the team on trips to places like Hawaii and Minnesota.
On Mother’s Day two years ago she was hit by a foul ball, which she now proudly keeps in a case in her living room. Coach John Cohen’s signature is on the ball.
Dee Dee uses a scorebook to record statistics at each game. When she’s not listening to the game on the radio, she’s at the game in her usual seat behind home plate. She’s become a fixture at games and says she’s had fans walk up to her after the games and ask her about the score.
So when her granddaughter, Carol Havelin, won a prize from the Mize Foundation that meant she could throw the opening pitch at Friday’s baseball game against Missouri, she gave the honor to Dee Dee and her own son Walker.
The first grader at Starkville Academy has also been a State baseball fan all his life and has attended games with his great-grandmother.
“I like to go to games with her,” Walker said.
He plays baseball for the Starkville Baseball Association. He and his teammates rotate positions during their games. His favorite position?
“Pitcher,” jokes his great-grandmother minutes before the two went to throw the first pitch at the MSU game.
But even the excitement of getting to pitch at an MSU baseball game couldn’t make Walker forget his favorite position is third baseman.
It runs in the family
Dee Dee and Walker are hardly alone in their love for baseball and sports in general among their family members. All three of Dee Dee’s sons played baseball in high school before going on to play football at different colleges.
At Friday’s game four generations of Dee Dee’s family waited with her in the stands, including Walker’s mother, Walker’s grandfather, Ricky Walker, and another of Dee Dee’s granddaughters, Loraine Walker. Not only is everyone in the family an MSU fan — some of them have regular seats in the Left Field Lounge — but they all get together for Mother’s Day every year and spend it with Dee Dee, Loraine Walker says.
In the minutes leading up to the game, the two pitch-throwers were driven to home plate in a MSU cart. Great-grandmother and great-grandson sat quietly together in the cart, each holding a baseball as they waited for the game to begin. Officials and fans alike greeted Dee Dee and she waved back or engaged them in conversation. Occasionally she put an arm around Walker’s shoulder, leaned toward him and said something too quietly for anyone but Walker to hear.
Then at 6:50 p.m., 10 minutes before the game was scheduled to start, Dee Dee and Walker were driven out onto the field. Spectators in the stands cheered as Dee Dee threw her ball — twice — and Walker pitched his own to players kneeling at home plate.
The players lined up to give a beaming Dee Dee a hug and to shake Walker’s hand.
“This is the best Mother’s Day present you could ask for,” Loraine Walker said as she took photos of the players hugging her grandmother.
After they got back to the stands to greet Havelin’s parents and other friends and family waiting for them, Walker proudly showed off his new baseball signed by the MSU players. Dee Dee sat in the MSU cart grinning.
“(My favorite part was) John Cohen escorting me,” she said.
As the game began, Walker got a ride in the cart back to her usual seat behind home plate. There, she pulled out her scorebook and enjoyed the game.
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