Jimmye Laycock became William and Mary’s football coach before the 1980 season, moving from Clemson, where he was offensive coordinator. The W&M representative who picked up Laycock at the Richmond airport and drove him to his interview in Williamsburg was Bob Sheeran.
Sheeran at that time was the Tribe’s sports information director, a job he held 1972-85. It was an inadequate title, considering the numerous duties he performed on the school’s behalf. In 1984, Sheeran joined play-by-play man Jay Colley as analyst on radio broadcasts of Tribe football.
Sheeran has attended, as the Tribe’s sports information director or as a member of its radio team, 41 seasons of W&M football games without missing any. That streak will end on Saturday, when Sheeran calls his final Tribe game, vs. the University of Richmond at Zable Stadium.
“It’s not that I’ve slowed down that much. I don’t think I’m lacking in passion,” said Sheeran, 68, who works in the real estate business. “But it’s time.”
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There is a new grandchild to spend weekends with, and other family matters that deserve the attention of Sheeran, a 1967 graduate of W&M, where his father was a football player during the 1930s. Sheeran saw his first Tribe game in the 1950s, and many others before the start of his 464-game streak that began with a 31-7 win over Furman in 1972.
“He was about as consistent as Saturday afternoon,” said Shawn Knight, W&M’s quarterback during the early 1990s and now the activities director at Huguenot High School. “There are few things you can count on. You could count on Saturday afternoon, and you could count on Bob Sheeran … There was no fan greater than he.”
Colley characterized Sheeran as a master of following the other 21 players on the field while Colley focuses on the player with the ball. Colley recognizes, too, that when Sheeran leaves the booth, with him goes encyclopedic knowledge of W&M football, and unrivaled love for the program.
“Bob is a professional, but also unabashedly, unapologetically, a Tribe fan,” Colley said. “I always kid him for seeing things through green and gold glasses.”
Sheeran’s feelings for W&M football will not fade, but he knows he will be less involved, and the change is emotional for him. He committed so deeply to the program not because of a string of Tribe championships, but because of the kind of student-athletes the school attracts.
“I really respect and appreciate what kids at William and Mary do. I know how tough it is,” Sheeran said. “I’ve tried to be dedicated to them.”
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