In years past, one man has been in the crowd at all types of SHS athletic events showing his support. In a single year alone, he attended 85 athletic events. With this year not even being halfway through, he has already been to nearly 40 games. This man is the SHS superfan, Steve Bean.

Bean has supported the school since the fall of 1974 when he attended SHS as a student. Ever since, he has been one of SHS’s biggest fans.

“I’m trying to be the best fan I can,” Bean said. “A lot of this is giving back. When I started coming to games again, I started to really have an appreciation for what this school has done for me.”

When Bean was a student at SHS, he first became involved with the school’s sports by becoming a manager for the basketball and baseball team. This is when and where he “found his place.” According to Bean, he drifted away during college, but really started getting back into SHS athletics during the 2005-2006 school year.

He came back just to check out SHS and after that game he knew that he missed being in the SHS atmosphere. According to Bean, what really interested him was the hire of former head basketball coach Jason Delaney, who had previously won the state championship. Ever since then, he has been to as many games as he possibly can.

“I enjoy the experience of coming to the events, even if we’re not winning,” Bean said.

Distance doesn’t matter to Bean either. Living nearby in Beech Grove and working in Carmel, Bean tries to make it to most games through the week. Even in 2016 when the boys basketball team traveled to Portsmouth, Ohio to play, Bean took a two-day trip just to make it. SHS athletics have traveled to Kentucky, Huntington, Terre Haute and Evansville, and Bean has showed up. According to athletic director Pete Hubert, Bean has a carefree attitude towards the distance of SHS athletic competitions, and will try to make it to as many as he can.

¨That loyal support from our community and alumni is tremendous,¨ Hubert said.

The SHS adult sports pass is a pass which allows owners to get into home games for any sport without paying admission. It was first introduced over 20 years ago. Bean has been an owner of a sports pass for the past 14 years. With the sports passes being $75 each year, that means Bean has spent around $1,050 in just sports passes. Bean has also donated different amounts of money to different teams.

As much support as Bean pours into the current teams at SHS, he also does his best to support SHS graduates on their collegiate journeys. He travels all over the state and even the country to keep track of former SHS athletes. For example, he has attended as many football games as he can at Marian University to follow SHS alum Luke Johnston.

Bean says that he has no plans for discontinuing his support for SHS.

¨As long as the uniform says Southport, I´ll be there,¨ Bean said.