When you show up at the North-South football camp, you notice two things.
First, Sissonville's Alex Bruce's hair has been colored orange.
Second, the name of Sport Mart no longer adorns the uniforms. The Charleston business, of course, closed a while back after 84 years of service. In its place on the jerseys is sponsor "Hib group."
What you might also notice, though, is the glow around the game, formally the WCHS 8-Fox 11 North-South Football Classic.
In sum, it is thriving, if not in popularity then in a financial sense. And it's something of which those in Charleston should take note.
Long ago the city lost the Super Six football championships. Recently the Mountain East Conference said it may pull its basketball tournament from downtown. Sometimes it seems Charleston officials and citizens expect sports events in town without putting forth effort.
Well, allow me to direct all to North-South game director Bob Mullett.
"When I took this game over nine years ago we had one sponsor, basically," Mullett said with pride on Tuesday. "We have 19 this year. We went from $8,500 in sponsorship to $40,000 in sponsorship."
It's quite a success story, but Mullett, assistant Mark Montgomery and others have worked hard to make it so.
"I know a lot of people work hard for FestivAll, etc. But Coach Mullett has been out there for seven months," Mullett said. "There's never a chance that goes by. ... If you're from Frontier or City Insurance, the next word we're going to have is whether you have any sponsor money left, any advertising money left."
Mullett, who used to coach at Van, said he receives a $1,600 stipend. ("Like coaching," he joked. "A penny an hour.") It's simply a labor of love.
"I went to Wheeling nine years ago for the Super Six," Mullett said before pointing at North-South equipment manager Sarge Cordery, who lives in Wheeling. "We got $7,500 out of Wheeling."
That's correct. Northern companies like Panhandle Cleaning and Bordas & Bordas are helping with the game.
"Plus, we're hoping Sinclair [Broadcast Group] will do TV live," Mullett said. "We've come a long way."
It's a nice story. Mullett said WCHS TV, West Virginia Radio, Frontier and others help with spreading word of the game. The KRT helps with transportation. The Army National Guard has been involved for all nine years.
A big help was establishing the game's fundraising arm as a charitable organization. Not only is the game held at the University of Charleston Stadium, but scholarships are awarded.
"Getting that 501-c3 status helped," Mullett said. "Coach [Charlie] Maynard [of the West Virginia Coaches Association] and I took three years to get that. It cost $800 and a lot of paperwork. With the Army National Guard, we spent three months on paperwork to get that money."
Do you notice the theme here? It's called work.
Mullett can go on and on. If the game is televised in the future, "no kid will turn us down," he predicts.
"I just talked to Embassy Suites and they want to have a big blowout gala party there next year for the players' families with balloons and banners," he said. "They have a banner there now."
WCHS sports director Mark Martin produces a special on the game. The Gazette-Mail covers the activities wall to wall. Mullett's crew is bringing in "40 cheerleaders from around the state." There will be both a North and a South pagent queen named.
"Every year we're adding little things," Mullett said. "It may not look like much - inflatables, a clown - but it's something. We have two or three companies coming to give away stuff."
The coaches association gave out $9,500 in scholarships last year. And here's the twist: The game's attendance was very low because of a downpour.
"But the game was paid for," Mullett said. "We're fortunate enough to have such great sponsorship. We walked away and took what little bit of money we made that night, $5,700, and put it toward scholarships."
Again, a nice story. And something for the rest of Charleston to notice.
"Are we there yet?" Mullett said. "No, but we're getting awful close."