How this 12-year-old Ole Miss super fan befriended Sacred Heart-Griffin's star athletes
Henry Ullrich is a bona fide super fan of Ole Miss.
He could be hailed as a Sacred Heart-Griffin super fan, too.
The 12-year-old from the Bloomington area attended SHG’s football opener against Rochester on Friday to witness the final chapter of the Leonard Bowl, pitting longtime coach Ken Leonard against son Derek.
“It was great,” said Ullrich, also known as Super Henry. “One hundred percent, I wanted SHG to win.”
‘Completely unexpected’
Ullrich was also accompanied by Nick Broeker’s parents, John and Missy. Nick graduated from SHG in 2019 and stars on the Ole Miss offensive line as a senior under head coach Lane Kiffin.
Nick became fast friends with Ullrich, who was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in 2015. Every now and then each year Ullrich meets the Broekers after a game.
“Completely unexpected,” John said. “But once you meet him, you fall in love with him.”
More:What we learned: Takeaways from Week 1 in Springfield-area high school football
John described Ullrich as a friend of the family.
“He likes being around the Broeker family,” said Ullrich’s father, Jeffrey. “They typify what SHG seems to be. It's just a bunch of really good people that care a lot about others and (SHG assistant) coach (Chad) Anderson is amazing. He's been so giving of his time, too.”
Ullrich befriends virtually anyone at Ole Miss, regardless of the sport.
“It's always about people, and Henry really likes people,” Jeffrey said. “It doesn't matter what they do. The kinder they are, the more time he wants to spend time with them.
“It's really fortunate he got to meet Nick, and he likes Nick a lot. And one thing Henry loves to do is he loves to go visit high schools of the people at Ole Miss that he's gotten to know because he likes to see what their life was like before he got to know them.”
Friend of the Cyclones
SHG has certainly welcomed Ullrich with open arms.
“I don't really know,” said Ullrich, when asked what keeps bringing him back. “I just like the guys. My favorite player is KeShon (Singleton). Just really nice and he’s really competitive.”
Singleton, a senior wide receiver, hauled in five catches for 61 yards and three TDs in the 62-27 victory over Rochester.
More:The Springfield area's top performances from Week 1 of the high school football season
Ullrich also watched the SHG boys basketball team in the Class 3A state championship game in Champaign and saw Singleton’s wild buzzer-beater against Metamora in double overtime.
“I lost my mind,” Ullrich said of Singleton’s spectacular 3-pointer.
More to come
Ullrich has Nick’s high school jerseys from football and basketball.
Ullrich, for his part, likes to bring over a Bloomington staple to Nick and his teammates in Oxford, Mississippi: Avanti’s Italian Restaurant.
SHG visits Normal University in Week 6. Ullrich may be there wearing Nick's No. 64. He also has some Cyclone basketball games in mind, too.
“How could you not want to be around Henry?” John said.
Contact Bill Welt: (217) 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA football: Ole Miss super fan Super Henry cheers for SHG
