Superfanning the Wahoo flames

Story by Chris Graham
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Paige Holder’s claim to sports-fan fame had been the two fan of the game awards he had won at Scott Stadium.
“I am the only one to have won this honor more than once,” said Holder, a Waynesboro native and 2006 graduate of the University of Virginia – and finalist in the 2007 Aaron’s Superfan contest.

Fans of five ACC and five SEC schools are in the pool of finalists. The winner gets everlasting fame and glory – and a featured appearance on “Football Saturdays in the South” next year.

Voting is being conducted in the contest online at www.aaronssuperfan.com through Sunday.

Holder is listed on the vote tally as Steven Holder. He’s the guy in the tuxedo shirt, bow tie, curly orange-and-blue hair and V-with-sabres tophat.

It apparently takes a degree in aerospace engineering to figure out how to maneuver one’s way through these kinds of contests – though as Holder says, “A degree in learning how to crochet a tuxedo shirt wouldn’t hurt.”

He entered the contest after seeing an ad for it on a TV broadcast of ACC football. He found out that he had been named a weekly winner of the contest from friends who saw his name appear on the TV screen during a broadcast of a UVa. game.

“I go to all the football games, so I never get to see UVa. on TV,” Holder said in an interview for this week’s “SportsDominion Show.” “They called me and said they’d announced my name at the football game saying that I had been named the weekly winner. So I researched it a little bit, and they contacted me later saying that I was one of the 10 finalists entered into the contest to be the overall winner.”

Holder has been a Virginia fan for as long as he can remember.

“My granddad is the one who got me interested in UVa. sports. He’s always been a true UVa. fan. I’ve been watching them ever since I was little,” Holder said.

And he’ll be on hand in Scott Stadium again this weekend – and who knows, maybe he can add to his fan of the game resume while he’s there.

Chris Graham is the executive editor of The SportsDominion.