Throughout the Montezuma-Cortez High School girls’ soccer game against Alamosa on April 18, John Kennedy bundled up in his trademark black sweatshirt and helped cheer the Lady Panthers to victory.
Kennedy then walked to the Parque de Vida baseball field, operated the scoreboard and provided encouragement to Panthers players throughout their loss to Grand Junction Central.
Finally, after the final out, the area’s most loyal sports fan returned home to eagerly await the next issue of the Cortez Journal, which he prefers to read for its sports content.
A loyal fan
To truly appreciate Kennedy’s love of sports, one must begin in Chicago in the 1980’s at a time when the Chicago Bears, which were coached my Mike Ditka and anchored by William “The Refrigerator” Perry at the time.
Kennedy fell in love with the Bears and soon began following the Chicago Blackhawks, Cubs and White Sox as well.
“I’m a big Chicago Bears fan,” Kennedy said. “That was the first team that I started following when I was growing up.”
After moving to the Cortez area in 1995, Kennedy enrolled at Montezuma-Cortez High School and graduated in 1996.
During his initial years in the area, he remained focused on Chicago sports, but after speaking with then M-CHS athletic director Justin O’Connor, Kennedy began attending games and wearing orange and black.
“I was not really a Panthers sports fan early on,” he said. “It was a while before I started attending games and helping out. I asked Justin O’Connor if I could help out with baseball and that’s how it all got started.”
Since that first season of baseball, Kennedy has rarely missed a high school sporting event and he can be seen chatting with coaches and fans.
Asked what events he enjoys the most, Kennedy said that basketball games between M-CHS and Durango are his favorite, before speaking about the Panthers’ win over the Demons earlier this season.
“It was the last year in the M-CHS gym,” Kennedy said. “We needed a win and we ended up beating them pretty badly. It was great.”
As for his favorite coach in the area, Kennedy mentioned former M-CHS baseball Matthew Betts, and then took a moment to talk about two current M-CHS stars.
“My top two athletes from this year were Jonathan Walck and Randy Haley,” Kennedy said. “I also liked the offensive lineman in football.”
Regarding his future, Kennedy said that he plans to continue attending high school sporting events and cheering on local teams in the years to come much to the delight of local athletes, coaches and fans.