Mildred English

Any long time 49er fan would be familiar with superfan Mildred English. God Bless her for her support for so many years.

“No obituary for Mille would be complete without mentioning her love of sports. She had undying loyalty to Charlotte 49er men’s basketball, where over the course of fifty plus years she only missed one home game, never missed a conference tournament, and traveled with friends to many away games.”

Mildred Elizabeth English

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Heartbreaking. Got to know some of the crew that sat with her this past season. Prayers to the family

Sad news. Thanks for sharing Tyro.

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Huge loss for Niner Nation. Miss Mille remains the greatest 49ers fan of all time. A glass should be raised to her memory at the Normbulance tonight. Preferably brown liquor (in true Miss Mille fashion).

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I knew who Mildred was, but really met her at the 1999 CUSA Basketball Tournament in Birmingham. She was at every game that weekend–not every Charlotte game–but every game of the tournament. After Bobby Lutz and the team made an unlikely four day run up through the bracket to win the tournament the 49er Club hosted a celebration at the team hotel with pizza and open bar. I asked Mildred if I could bring her something from the bar, and she said she would like a “bourbon and branch, without too much branch”. I knew then we were going to be friends. I had the opportunity to be one of the people that nominated Mildred for the Alumni of Choice award, which she was very proud to accept as she was a Niner to her bones.

In the last few years Mildred slowed down considerably, but still prioritized coming to 49ers games while she could. As a young program we still have many of the fans around that built our program. They lived through the beginning, the highs in '76 and '77 when we went to the Final Four, and were still showing up for every game when we were at our lowest point a few years later. Mildred, and those like her, didn’t promise to support the program when things were going well, they just supported “their” program. I am not sure we will ever be able to replace them, and I am sad to see we have lost another one.

Godspeed Mildred, and Go Niners!

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Was her football seat in section 109 at the top? I think she was in my section and I always spoke to her every game, but could not remember where I knew her, but now remember it was from my time on campus in the 80s

Thank you for sharing. What an incredible life she led.

I was chastised twice by Miss Mille. Once because I was leaving the arena in Cincinnati after our game and not sticking around to watch Southern Miss take on DePaul (or something like that). She then explained to me exactly how that game impacted our at-large chances. LOL (I left anyway.)

The other time was in Louisville. She jumped on me for leaving the hospitality suite as she was heading in. It was 1 AM. “It’s a shame that you young people can’t hang with me.” Indeed. :rofl:

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RIP Mille.

We’ll definitely raise a drink in her honor at the Normbulance today.

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Will miss the good times had with her especially at tournaments . She was a great lady (gentle, sweet, intelligent and fun to be with) and I always enjoyed the time spent with her. We all will miss her greatly

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