He was a friend and loyal fan when he died at 85. Clover wants to win ‘For Mr. Bob.’
Less than an hour after the Clover girls basketball team won the Upper State title and earned a berth in the 2020 5A state championship game, junior guard Aylesha Wade took to Twitter.
“For Mr. Bob,” her tweet read. “Rest easy.”
Wade was referring to Bobby Anderson, a custodian known for wearing a Clover hat that framed a well-worn smile. He was the one who opened the gym for the girls team’s early-morning practices before school. He kept the locker room clean and the gym in order.
But Anderson, who died at 85 on Feb. 18 from an undisclosed illness, did more than that.
He was a supportive friend to the players and a loyal fan to the team. Now, the Blue Eagles, who play Goose Creek in the state title game on Friday at 7 p.m., want to win their program’s first state championship in decades for him.
“We want to do it for us, the school, the community and for him,” Wade said. “We want to make everybody proud. And we can.”
Anderson, a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked in the Clover School District as a custodian for eight years, checked in with players on the Clover girls basketball team about their grades. Wade said when she walked through the halls to the cafeteria during lunch, he sometimes asked her if she needed lunch money, or cash to get a soda or a juice from the vending machine.
“Every morning, we’d see him at school, during morning practice, getting his stuff out of his closet just right by the gym,” Wade told The Herald prior to her team’s pre-state championship press conference in Columbia. “It’s extremely important to me that I make him proud and do what I’m supposed to do.”
Anderson’s smile ‘would light up a dull building’
Wade said Anderson “had a smile that would light up a dull building.” He was quiet, Wade and senior guard Mariana Ballard agreed, but he wasn’t shy about showing his support for a team he planned on seeing win a championship in Columbia.
“He was definitely there for us,” Ballard said. “He made sure our locker room was kept up. He was always there supporting us, and he believed in us.”
Anderson’s friendship and familiarity is part of what makes this Clover community special, head coach Sherer Hopkins told The Herald. She’s been in Clover her whole life, and her father was Clover High School’s principal when she was little.
“They’d always support our athletics and our young people, which is amazing,” Hopkins said of her community.
Hopkins also said the days after Anderson died were tough for her team. He passed away the same day Clover beat Mauldin in the first round of the state playoffs — after seeing this Clover team finish the regular season with a region title and an undefeated record at home.
Now at early morning practices, part of the team’s routine is missing.
Still, though, his presence is felt.
“When you have somebody in your space in a way that much all year, who’s being supportive and helping them understand that they need to do the right thing all the time, it hurts when that happens,” Hopkins said of Anderson.
“We’re playing for him. And we’re playing for all of Clover.”
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 4:09 PM with the headline "He was a friend and loyal fan when he died at 85. Clover wants to win ‘For Mr. Bob.’."
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