By Jim Workman
Register-Herald Reporter
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Da’Sean Butler has had an opportunity to meet and visit with thousands of fans over the past few months.
It’s likely that few will stand out in his mind like Brenda Mullins of Pax.
Mullins, the widow of Upper Big Branch miner Rex Mullins, shared a few moments with the former West Virginia University basketball star Friday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
Butler appeared at the autograph session featuring exclusive items from the Dale Sparks Collection.
Mullins shared a story about her late husband with Butler, how Rex was a huge Mountaineer fan and dedicated his “man cave” at home to WVU memorabilia.
She also showed Butler the T-shirt her husband wore to work that fateful day — a gray Mountaineer basketball shirt, a gift from a family member who attended the NCAA East Regional.
“She told me about his room,” Butler said of Brenda Mullins. “I signed that shirt for her. They’re going to put it in the room. It’s supposed to be very special. I wouldn’t mind seeing it sometime. The fact that my name is in there and it’s always going to be in there, I’m lucky.”
The meeting seemed to touch Butler personally.
“It was very special because of what happened,” he said. “Coach (Bob Huggins) had talked to us about her and her family and the rest of the families.
“It is very important to get to meet the fans, especially the ones like them that are going through things right now. We were an important part of their life and then that happened. I hope they’re able to find some kind of happy moment. If I can give them a little smile, just to help them out in any way and give them any positive moment, I’m happy.”
“Rex was a very big Mountaineer fan,” Brenda Mullins said. “A huge fan. His room is blue and gold. He loved it. There was nothing like WVU sports. Nothing compared. Everything centered around WVU games.
“We watched all of the games. If he had to work, we recorded them and we watched them on the DVR.”
Her husband liked to watch the recorded games without first knowing the result.
But that didn’t always work out.
“He knew that WVU had beaten Kentucky (in the NCAA regional final) because everyone in the mines was singing ‘Country Roads,’” Mullins recalled. “He knew they won before he even got home to watch it.”
Butler was a favorite, she said.
“He liked them all, but he thought Da’Sean was the greatest,” Mullins said. “Just like Pat White and Owen Schmitt were favorites in football. But Da’Sean was his favorite. When Da’Sean got hurt against Duke (in a national semifinal game April 3, two days before the mine explosion), he was worried about him. He hoped Da’Sean would recover and everything would be OK.”
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Hundreds of others came out Friday to see Butler.
Greg Smith of Shady Spring brought his wife Kelly and their sons Eli, 7, and Daniel, 4, to meet the Mountaineer great.
“We wanted to see Da’Sean,” Smith said. “He played for the best WVU basketball team in 51 years. Eli practices basketball every day. He wants to be like Da’Sean.”
Eli certainly had his questions and comments for Butler ready to go.
“I want to ask him how his knee is,” he said. “He’s the best player in college basketball. I’m going to go to West Virginia University and play basketball and I’m going to wear No. 1, too.”
Event organizer Dale Sparks had high praise for Butler.
“Da’Sean is super with the fans. He has a great personality and is fun to be around. He’s as genuine as they come.”
The love the fans have for Butler was very apparent.
“He deserves it, too,” Sparks said. “He’s a great Mountaineer and he loves these fans. This is the only chance some fans get to see him in person. He’s eating this up.”
— E-mail: jworkman@register-herald.com
