If you’ve been to a South Alabama football game at home or on the road in the last six seasons, you’ve probably seen Terry Henderson Sr.
And if you’ve posted on Twitter about the Jaguars — in any sport — during that time, he’s almost certainly re-tweeted you. The father of South Alabama linebacker Chris Henderson, Terry Henderson has been a near-constant presence around the team — both in-person and virtually — since his son signed with the Jaguars’ out of Lovejoy High School near Atlanta in 2016.
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Terry Henderson has become so closely associated with South Alabama football that he’s earned the nickname “The 12th Man.”
“It’s cool,” Chris Henderson said. “My dad is my best friend. When I was young, it was that (typical) father-son relationship. When I started playing football and getting older, we turned into best friends. We talk on the phone every day. When I decided I was coming here, he said he said he was going to be all-in whether I was playing or not. … It’s just a blessing to have somebody like him in my life.”
The presence has extended to the South Alabama program in general, though things are nearing the end of the line for the Hendersons, at least in the football sense. Chris, a sixth-year “super” senior, will play his final home game — and possibly his last game, period — for South Alabama vs. Coastal Carolina on Friday at Hancock Whitney Stadium.
Unless the Jaguars (5-5, 2-5 Sun Belt Conference) upset the Chanticleers (9-2, 5-2) and qualify for a bowl game, Friday will also mark Terry’s final game as a South Alabama football parent. And he said he’s feeling quite emotional about that.
“To be able to have a child go off and play college football and get an education has been such a blessing, because a lot his friends that he grew up with, they stopped playing a long time ago,” Terry Henderson said. “It’s been something very special. I’ve been with him every game since middle school, every high school game, every (recruiting) combine, every college game. To see it all unfold, his passion for the game and the ability to live out his dreams, has been so special. It’s been an emotional week for me, but this could very well possibly be the last time he puts on a football uniform.”
A U.S. Navy veteran and long-time locomotive engineer in Atlanta, Terry Henderson promised his youngest son when he signed with South Alabama that he’d do everything he could to be at every game Chris played, home and road. And he’s kept that vow, making the five-hour drive from his Atlanta home to Mobile for home games, and either flying or driving to road contests.
Henderson works the night shift for Fulton County Railroad, punching out around dawn every weekday morning. On the day before South Alabama games, he stops by his home to get cleaned up and perhaps to catch a quick nap, then he and wife/traveling partner Gwendallyn (AKA, “The First Lady”) hit the road.
Gwendallyn Henderson works for Delta Air Lines, which helps with travel arrangements for flights. But most times, the trip takes place by car.
“My manager really understand family,” Terry said. “When I got on with Fulton County Railroad, I told him that it was my desire to make it to every game my son plays. So he told me ‘I will put you on a shift, put you on a schedule, that works for you.’ They’ve been a great support system for me. They’ve made sure that I was off on the weekends and able to make it to all my son’s games.”
“The 12th Man” almost didn’t make it to one South Alabama game, at Idaho in 2016. Chris Henderson was a freshman that year, but had begun to earn playing time on the Jaguars’ defense.
Gwendallyn wasn’t able to get away from work to make the trip, so Terry at first decided not to go. But his wife talked him into it, and he made the nearly 2,500-mile trek to Moscow, Idaho, with a friend instead.
“My freshman year when we played Idaho, I thought he wasn’t coming,” Chris said. But he showed up. He showed up. I couldn’t believe it, but there he was.”
He’s been there every game since, even making the trip to every South Alabama game in 2018 after Chris suffered a season-ending injury in Week 2. Terry said he’d built close relationships with players and coaches on the team by that time, and said he felt he owed it to the Jaguars to continue to support them despite his son’s absence from the lineup.
Chris Henderson has been a mainstay for the Jaguars on defense the last three years, and has totaled 28 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery in 11 games in 2021 despite playing through nagging injuries all season. Head coach Kane Wommack said the program will definitely miss the Hendersons — plural — in 2022.
“He’s everywhere,” Wommack said. “Terry does not miss a tweet. … He just has such an energy and an excitement for South Alabama football. Chris is the same way in this program. I recruited Chris, six, seven years ago now, whatever it was. There are two guys in this program that have been part of a bowl game at South Alabama, and that’s Chris Henderson and myself. So to think about all the things that we’ve gone through together, and then to be his head coach his senior year, is really something special. But to have a guy like Terry Henderson a part of our program and supporting us, it’s special to have people like that.”
But showing up on game isn’t the extent of Terry Henderson’s involvement with the Jaguars. He’s the king of South Alabama Twitter, using his account (@THenderson316) to spread the Jaguar gospel across social media.
Henderson not only tweets his own thoughts about South Alabama athletics, but re-tweets nearly everything else that anyone shares about any USA sport. He’ll typically reply with an animated gif — an affirmation when something good happens for the Jaguars, one of hopeful regret when things go wrong — that more often than not perfectly captures the mood.
“I’d never really been a social media guy, but my daughter kind of turned me on to Twitter,” Henderson said. “Once I got on there, I saw where South Alabama had a fan page, and that’s the first one I followed. And that led me to other (accounts) to follow. I thought ‘my son’s down there, I need to be part of the program.’ So I would post something now and then, and then people started coming back at me. It’s become like a family.”
Chris Henderson is Terry’s youngest child, and it’s possible his final game as a Jaguar will be his last in organized team sports. Thus will end more than 15 years of road trips, hotel rooms and concession stand food for the Hendersons that began when Chris — now 23 — was in elementary school.
Whenever that moment comes, Terry said he’ll look back with pride with what Chris accomplished, most notably graduating with a degree in leisure studies this past spring. But, he said, he’s not planning on departing the Jaguar family.
“Even when Chris leaves, I’m not going to leave,” Henderson said. “I joked with my wife that I’m going to enter the transfer portal, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m sure other parents and fans will step up behind me. But they can look forward to me coming around, maybe not to every game, but I will be showing up. And I’m definitely going to continue to follow the Jags.”
Kickoff for South Alabama-Coastal Carolina is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The game will stream live via ESPN+.
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