Mercer Women’s Basketball and Francar’s Buffalo Wings
By Hayley Hudson
Sharon Fambro is an avid supporter of Mercer University sports.
Walking into Francar’s Buffalo Wings, the restaurant she operates with her husband, Carl, this fact is evident. The walls are plastered with team posters, photos and newspaper clippings commemorating big wins.
What her restaurant’s decor doesn’t clearly display, however, is the special relationship she shares with the school’s women’s basketball team. If you ask the Mercer Bears players, they’ll tell you that they appreciate the woman they know as “Miss Sharon” for more than just her tasty food.
“They come in here to eat, and I played basketball at Georgia State, so I’m a fan,” Fambro said.
Forming a bond with the players began with simply “learning their names and their faces, calling them by their names and knowing their order when they first walk in,” she said.
Since she’s a Macon native, Fambro has been familiar with the Bears for her whole life — she even played against Mercer throughout her basketball career at Georgia State University.
Beyond that, as a former collegiate athlete, Fambro can relate to the young women of Mercer basketball.
Fambro understands the particular challenges that come with a grueling athletic schedule, combined with the typical stress of being a student — and she shares the love of the game that makes it all worthwhile for the players.
Naturally, a bond developed between Fambro and the Mercer team when they started coming to Francar’s regularly, taking advantage of the restaurant’s proximity to campus. The Bears’ former coaching staff created the tradition of eating at Francar’s and current coaches have carried the torch. It’s their standard practice to bring new recruits in for a good meal and Fambro’s stamp of approval.
“The players get to know me, and they’ll bring the new girls in and introduce them to me,” Fambro said. “I keep up with them all the way from freshman year to senior year, and I stay in touch with the old players, too.”
Sydni Means, the Bears’ star point guard, recalls being introduced to Francar’s and “Miss Sharon” when she first visited Mercer as a high school recruit. Even though they were strangers, Means felt that Fambro welcomed her with open arms. Now, as a junior, the player looks to Fambro as a matriarch of sorts.
“She’s always checking on us. She texts us before every game telling us good luck,” Means said. “Other than our coaching staff, there’s not a ton of older adults around us to keep us in check, and she’s almost that person for us. She makes sure that we’re getting our schoolwork done, that we’re eating well.”
Having Fambro as a guardian figure is especially valuable to these collegiate athletes who are away from home for months at a time, missing holiday breaks in favor of training and tournaments. And since she’s been in their shoes, Fambro is glad to take on that role in their lives.
“I consider myself everybody’s mama. I don’t have any kids of my own, but I’ve got a lot of children,” said Fambro, smiling warmly. “I know how it is to be in school, away from home, away from your parents, and not have any support. So if they need me, I’m there.”
