You may have never heard of St. Bonaventure before this March, but chances are you’ve heard of us now. Right off of I-86 in New York, we are a small school of under 2,000 students that just upset 11-time NCAA champion, UCLA, in one of the First Four games. But, what makes Bonaventure more special than just our sports teams are our fans. There is nothing crazier than watching a live televised game and not being able to hear the commentators speak over the “LETS GO BONAS” chant. There is something to be said about students driving 12 hours in a weekend to go down to DC for the Atlantic 10 tournament. Then, as you walk down the streets wearing a St. Bonaventure hoodie and you hear every couple of minutes a, “Go Bonas!” shouted at you. These same people then turn around in a day and travel 12 more hours to Dayton, OH, many sponsored by our past members of the Wolfpack, to cheer on our team some more. You really can’t help but smile and be a little moved by the passion the fans have traveling far and wide, even all the way to Dallas, TX to cheer on our Bonnies.
There’s a special place in my heart as we wrapped up our season Thursday night for the team that brought so many fun and special memories my senior year, and I think I speak for the whole senior class in saying that. May it be a football team, basketball team, marching band, club that your school is immensely proud of, but it’s more than just the activity. This activity is the catalyst that brings a school, a community, together from all ends of the country, even all ends of the world for our abroad Bonnies. Sitting in a bar at 1 a.m. you hear some of the best stories from the Bonnnies far and wide that have gathered together to watch a game or two. You hear stories of love, friendship, wild nights out, late nights and early mornings, all these years later. I am sad to no longer be a student in the Wolfpack, but I can’t wait to be an alum traveling back to see Bonas play; to tell my own stories to the wide-eyed freshmen who snuck into the bar about the great times I had at Bonaventure and how in a heartbeat I would do it again.