Remembering JMU Cheerleader Nick Keatts

HARRISONBURG – More than wins or touchdowns or 3-pointers, James Madison senior cheerleader Nick Keatts loved being a part of the pageantry and the show that is college athletics.

“He wanted to make all the fans in the stands excited about what was going on,” JMU cheerleading coach Kelly Moore told me Sunday. “He wanted everyone to enjoy JMU athletics as much as he did.”

I got to know Keatts as a James Madison fan, as the guy inside that puffy Duke Dog outfit, as a cheerleader, even as a part-time sports writer.

Saturday night, when I landed at Dulles Airport, I got the news that the 23-year-old Keatts had been found dead in his apartment that morning by a teammate who had come to check on him because Keatts had missed school and cheer practice Friday with a stomach bug.

“That’s a devastating thing,” said JMU football coach Mickey Matthews, who said Keatts was a close friend to a number of the football players. “It’s much more important than any football game will ever be.”

I had the drive back to Harrisonburg to think about the tragic event and what the JMU community had lost – one of the most passionate fans I’ve encountered in my nine years around the Dukes. During the team’s memorable march to the 2008 Division I-AA semifinals, Keatts came to games dressed – and face-painted – like the Joker from Batman comics and movies.

He was one of the most energetic and enthusiastic supporters for a basketball program whose Electric Zoo days have long ago browned out.

Moore said to me this weekend, “if you take a step back and look, he really is the face of JMU cheerleading.”

And that face was always smiling.

On the sideline at Madison football games, Keatts had a smile for every scoreboard occurrence.

When the Dukes were winning, he flashed a wide, beaming toothy grin that screamed, “Look at us. Look what we’re doing. How great is this?”

When JMU was losing, Keatts was still smiling, offering a wry, almost bashful grin that seemed to say, “What is going on around here? Do you believe this?”

And when the Dukes were locked in a tight battle, the kind of close contest that is supposed to unnerve fans, Keatts turned edge-of-your-seat, white-knuckle time to another chance to flash his pearly whites.

It was for those moments that Keatts saved his biggest smile, one that seemed to excitedly cry out, “What’s going to happen next?”

That’s because, more than the winning, Keatts loved being a part of the world of JMU athletics, the community that was thousands of people wearing the same color and doing the same thing – enjoying a sporting event.

If you’re a JMU fan and you knew Keatts, or even if you didn’t, when you’re sitting in the stands during a football or basketball game and, whether the Dukes are winning or losing or the game’s tied, take a moment to think about how much Nick Keatts would’ve enjoyed being there.

And smile.