Hickory, North Carolina is not a large town by most standards. The population is about 40,000 people. We’re not large enough to have the NFL, NBA, or MLB sports. We do have our share of high school and small college sports, but we are also fortunate enough to have a minor league baseball team. Attendance at the minor league baseball games isn’t that great, but dollar beer and fireworks nights tend to draw 2000 or more fans into the park. On other nights, attendance is usually in the 800-1200 range, if even that much. The fans in attendance aren’t usually into the game very much, especially when the home team is having a dismal season, which is the case in 2008.

One of the highlights I find in attending professional sporting events such as Carolina Panthers football in Charlotte is the presence of the superfans who dress in crazy costumes and carry on with crazy antics in the stadium. You have to be sitting close to them to really get the feel for what they are doing in an arena packed with 50,000 fans, but there are enough of them dispersed throughout the crowd that everyone can get some interaction with them during a game. Fans like this, however, don’t really exist at any sporting events in my home town.

Enter Paul Buchanan…

Paul got his start as a superfan at Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium in Kannapolis, North Carolina, as a supporter of their local minor league baseball team, the Kannapolis Intimidators. Paul would shout in support of the Intimidators and shout jeers at the visiting team players during the course of the games. Over time, he developed his signature UH-HUH exclamation to end each shout of support or ridicule. Fans soon started shouting the trademark UH-HUH along with him. The UH-HUH exclamation ultimately found its way onto his ball cap, t-shirt, and a variety of home-made signs that he displays during his in-game antics. Paul also chases foul balls with great determination. He keeps some of the foul balls for himself and shares other with kids in the park. In reality, Paul is a big kid at heart.

During the 2007 baseball season, Paul was given season passes to attend baseball games in Hickory whenever he was able to come up, and we saw a lot of him. The 2008 season hasn’t been so great though. I was actually worried about him, because up until last night, I hadn’t seen Paul in our park. The Kannapolis Intimidators have been playing a four-game series in Hickory this weekend, and Paul has been present at the last two games. I asked him on Sunday why we hadn’t seen much of him this summer. He told me he was working a part time job that was eating up a lot of his free time, so he hasn’t been able to put as much effort into his baseball passion.

When I first met Paul during the 2006 baseball season, I was surprised to find out a few interesting facts about him. Paul’s primary career is that of an assistant pricinpal in a pre-K school in the Charlotte area. After learning that, it’s easy to see why Paul is able to keep his inner-child alive and well through the love of America’s pasttime…

1000 Faces, Photojournalism, Sports