Hope Springs Eternal for Diehard Sox Fans on Opening Day

Story and Photos by Mary Compton

The baseball gods were smiling upon the South Side on Monday, or perhaps it was Nellie Fox.

Outside U.S. Cellular Field in parking lot C, the “Wolf Pack,” a group of stubbornly faithful fans that live and die for the White Sox, were grilling brats and burgers three hours before game time, savoring the balmy 61-degree weather after the long polar vortex.

In 2006, the year after the Sox won their first World Series since 1917, a group of fans came up with the idea to start the only tailgating Sox fan club. They called themselves the Wolf Pack.

“2008 was the biggest day for us here,” says Joe Montgomery, den leader of the pack. “There were about 100 of us. There were no other team fans here. We walked up the stairwell at the Cell, it gave me shivers.”

Tradition runs deep for these South Side fans. Just like some families’ ties to their neighborhood parish, families don’t dare abandon their White Sox, no matter how lousy the season is going.

“Once you’re a Sox fan, you’re always a Sox fan,” Oak Lawn-resident Rod Waligora says, who has been grilling at the home opener, rain, snow or shine, since the Wolf Pack's consecration.

For Carol Ann Everett, she lives, breathes and wears Sox. On Monday, she sported Sox tattoos on her cheeks.

“I’ve always been a Sox fan, I grew up on 31rst and Parnell,” Everett said, one of Wolf Pack’s charter members. “We do everything together, we’ve all become close friends.”

Like any true fan, whose favorite teams are the Sox and whoever plays the Cubs, Olympian bobsledder Aja Evans grew up in North Side Cubbie blue. She comes by it honestly, since her uncle is the legendary Cubs’ leftfielder, Gary Sarge Matthews, who watched the ball roll between Leon Durham’s legs during the fifth game of 1984 division playoffs against the San Diego Padres.

“I’m a Chicago fan,” Evans said. “Because of my uncle, I grew up Cubs.”

Watching his beloved White Sox score in the second inning against the Minnesota Twins, Montgomery relived his favorite Sox memory.

“Watching the World Series banner unfurl, I heard my son ask, ‘daddy, why are you crying,’” he recalled. “Today, I’m not ashamed to say it. That moment will be etched in my mind forever.”

And on opening day, where hope springs eternal, fans celebrated the Sox 5-3 win over the twins along the sacred ground of 35th Street. Murmurs of playoff conversation filled parking lot C.

“Bring it on,” they said. “Bring it on.”