LOCATION: CORVALLIS, OREGON OCCUPATION: RETIRED MAMA HECKERS SHARON HECKERS You might not have seen Sharon Heckers in the stands, but if you attend home football games, you’ve witnessed her influence on the field. Better known as “Mama Heckers,” she’s been ensuring that the roughly 300 members of the OSU Marching Band are fueled up and ready to play since 1999. It all started when her daughter, Kristin Heckers, performed with the Color Guard. (Now she’s the Color Guard’s instructor and choreographer.) Sharon took a look at what they were eating and said, “We can do this a lot better and a lot cheaper.” So she built an all-volunteer operation to acquire and serve nutritious food — like baked potatoes with all the fixings or a pick-your-toppings pasta bar. Game days for the band start five hours before kickoff and continue until the final strains of “Carry Me Back to OSU.” The food crew begins even earlier, setting up in the Truax Indoor Practice Center. They’ve got it down to an art: two meal shifts, each in and out in half an hour. “I believe in the students. They’re like my kids,” Heckers says. Knowing they’ve had one good meal makes the long hours worth it. (Until last year, on top of everything, she drove nearly three hours from Grants Pass). But that’s not the only reason she’s called “Mama.” “Anytime anybody needs a hug or just wants to talk, I’m there for them,” she says. Heckers considers herself a sports fan, but also a fan of music and its crucial role in making game days come alive. “I think that sometimes it’s taken for granted that the band is there.” She says with a laugh: “I like to say, the football team’s just on the band field for a while.” Anytime anybody needs a hug or just wants to talk, I’m there for them. 46
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