Dec. 15, 2009
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From West Point, N.Y., in the east to Fort Worth, Texas, in the west, National Commodore Club members Melvin and Linda Holland have seen just about every stretch of interstate in between.
The Hollands have been Vanderbilt season ticket holders in football for 31 seasons, and since 1989, they haven’t missed a game â€â€ home or away. In total, the couple has seen Vanderbilt play 238 straight games under six head coaches.
“The first 11 years we had tickets, we didn’t make every away game, we’d try to go to one or two road games a year,” Melvin Holland said. “In 1989, we had gone to so many different away games that I told my wife we should just buy the complete season this year. We started in 1989, and we haven’t missed a game since.”
Melvin’s passion for Vanderbilt football began when he attended East High School in East Nashville. He and his high school friends would fill section N of the bleachers at Dudley Field for every Vanderbilt home game. The group he was with was even dubbed the “Section N Gang.” Despite the 2008 season being the Commodores’ only winning season in the Holland’s 20 years of traveling, it hasn’t kept them from turning out every Saturday in the fall.
“I wouldn’t say it is a complete pleasure being a Vanderbilt fan all the time,” Melvin said. “I want them to win every time out, but I realize that it is a football game and there is going to have to be a winner and a loser. I feel like if the boys go out there and give 100 percent effort, which I think that they do 99 percent of the time … whether they win or lose, they are winners in my eyes.”
Unfortunately for the Hollands, losing is what they’ve mostly seen over the past 20 years. Heading into the 2009 season, Vanderbilt had a record of 67-159 since 1989.
“I’ll have people ask me why I always pull for Vanderbilt because they are always losing,” Melvin said. “In my eyes, winning isn’t everything. The education that the school provides is well-known across the world, and the education those kids are getting and the life experiences they receive on and off the field are invaluable.”
While the Hollands have made 238 consecutive games, maintaining the streak hasn’t always been easy. Before retiring July 31, 2003, from Yellow Freight, Melvin had spent more than 30 years working in the trucking industry, including the last 16 at Yellow Freight. In order to maintain the streak, Melvin would use his vacation and sick days in conjunction with Vanderbilt’s football schedule.
His passion for Vanderbilt football was no secret among co-workers, and there was a time he felt his dedication to Vanderbilt might have him looking for another job.
“I forgot which game it was, but I told my supervisor at the truck line to mark me down for a sick day on Friday because I wasn’t going to be here,” Melvin said. “He asked, ‘How do you know you are going to be sick?’ Then he said, ‘It is the Vanderbilt football game isn’t it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, it is, but I have a couple of sick days I can use.’ He said, ‘You’re going to get fired someday for using those sick days. You’ll have to decide if you want to work for Yellow Freight Truck Line or go to a Vanderbilt football game.'”
Melvin never did get fired, and he still hasn’t missed a game.
The Hollands never tracked the exact mileage they have traveled between their home in Old Hickory to Vanderbilt’s away games. However, when using Mapquest.com to add up the mileage from Nashville to the cities in which the Commodores played, it is estimated that they have traveled 85,516 miles, but it is sure to be more. Of the miles traveled to watch the Commodores, the Hollands have never traveled a greater distance than they have in 2009 with Vanderbilt’s trips to West Point, N.Y., and Houston, bringing the teams travel log to 7,146 miles.
As a commemorative for each game they attended, the Hollands purchased a game program at every game from 1989 to 2007. With costs continuing to rise, the Hollands stopped purchasing programs in 2008â€â€Âthe season the Commodores won the Music City Bowl.
“I stopped doing it last year because they started off costing $2 or $3 and then they went up to $4 and then $5, and I actually bought some that were $6,” Melvin said. “A lot of times, I will buy the thing and I’ll put it down and never open it, so I just quit buying them last year.”
He did, however, purchase the Music City Bowl program, which he has displayed in his living room that is painted black and gold and has a Vanderbilt border along walls.
During their trips to watch the Commodores, the Hollands have collected more than 150 Christmas houses to go in their sprawling Christmas village. The village is part of the their annual Christmas decorations, which have won multiple awards over the years and includes an estimated 50,000 lights.
There are few certainties in the world, but if the Hollands have it their way, they have every intention of continuing to follow Vanderbilt’s football team wherever it goes.
“We didn’t do this for attention, we just enjoy going to the games,” Melvin said. “I’m planning on going to all the Vanderbilt football games every year unless health stops me.”
