Derrick 'DT' Liddell sat in a chair on the baseline for nearly the entire basketball game. He was just like any other spectator. His eyes followed the players on the court, and he clapped when the Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team scored.
But during a timeout with 3 minutes, 48 seconds left on the clock and Southeast trailing 71-63 to Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 2, he joined the Southeast Sundancers and cheerleaders on the court of the Show Me Center for his moment to be in the spotlight.
"I dance with the band, I dance with the Sundancers," Liddell said. "My favorite is 'Jump Around' by House of Pain."
That's the song that plays at each game -- usually during a media timeout with about three minutes left in the game -- and every game that Liddell attends he is on the court dancing to it. He has trouble putting into words what he likes about the games, but his eyes light up and he's visibly excited when he talks about it.
At times throughout the game Liddell stands up and dances from his seat, or he'll wander over to where the band is playing and nod his head to the beat or jump up and down. He'll occasionally walk around -- smiling at some people, shaking hands with others.
"Derrick is a fervent Redhawks fan that is always in attendance at the basketball games," Southeast band director Dr. Martin Reynolds said in an email. "He is [a] happy, go-lucky young man that enjoys watching [Southeast] teams play and participating in the spirit of the contest.
"He also enjoys interacting with the crowd and tries hard to get our fans involved in cheering and clapping. I find his energy infectious and the band finds his 'Jump Around' entertaining to watch. I think that most people that see Derrick at the games have an appreciation for his participation and the energy that he brings in support of our teams."
Liddell, a Cape Girardeau resident, has never attended Southeast as a student, but he's been attending Southeast basketball and football games regularly since he started working at the Show Me Center in 2007. He was able to get into the games for free because he was an employee. He continued to work there doing set up and take down as well as clean up for events until 2010, when he was laid off due to budget cuts.
Many people may have seen him at games, but might not know that he has a form of high-functioning autism.
"Derrick was born with the disability. He was a premature baby, so he had a lot of health issues as an infant," Liddell's mom Natosha Pearson said. "And then when he started school, I didn't live here. I actually moved here to get him integrated into school where he could be able to be around what we would call 'normal kids,' have a peer system to mimic, because many autistic kids learn from what they see, the environment. He went through a lot of occupational therapy, speech therapy and me just never treating him as if he had a problem is what helped him get to the point that he is at now."
Liddell and Pearson lived in Pemiscot County, and Pearson explained that in the late 80s and early 90s not many educators understood autism and would send disabled students to the special school district.
"The special school district consists of a lot of kids that have down syndrome or other disabilities, and being that autistic kids learn from their environment, I felt like he would mimic their behavior and their learning patterns, which would make him actually move backwards, rather than move him forward to actually becoming educated," Pearson said.
Liddell attended elementary school in Cape Girardeau, including Alma Schrader Elementary School. He graduated from Cape Central High School in 2007. He attended the football games, was the manager of the football team for two years and was crowned prom king his senior year.
"He never let his disability hinder him from integrating with the rest of the kids," Pearson said. "A lot of the kids at Cape Central, they had known him since elementary school and I don't think they treated him any different than anybody else. I think by them voting for him to be prom king it was just the symbol of acceptance for him."
Pearson said that he has always loved to dance, but as he's gotten older he only dances at Southeast games and not around his family members. Liddell and his mom are close and even live together, but he's beginning to want more independence.
"We are, but being that he is a young man, 24, I'm mom," Pearson said. "As with any young man we have a good relationship, but then he's discovering that he's an adult and I'm still being the protective mom that doesn't want him to get hurt or taken advantage of. So we do have disagreements and he just doesn't realize that I'm worried about his safety. We get along -- a lot of times I feel like I'm more of his friend than his mother."
Liddell also participates in the 828 Campus Outreach program at Southeast. According to sophomore Taylor Snead, a member of the organization, the group meets at 8:28 p.m. every Wednesday in the University Center Ballroom and throws some type of event.
"This is the place where people that normally wouldn't go to church would go. So we don't want it to seem like a youth group," Snead said. "We want it to be something a lot different -- just inviting to people who normally wouldn't hear the gospel or hear anything about who Jesus is. And it's a lot about getting to know people around campus that you normally wouldn't meet."
Liddell attends Cape Bible Chapel and can be found at the 828 meetings, sometimes dancing to the music playing beforehand. One of the types of music he enjoys is rap and he has even appeared in music videos with Cape Girardeau rapper Krystal Claire and Mystere Jones, a music producer from Brooklyn who now lives in Tannersville, Penn.
"He's kind of just like the big smile that everyone can't wait to see," Snead said. "If he's not here everyone notices because we'll be in the middle of just a fun time and everyone just sees DT stand up and raise his hands up. I know whenever we get together and talk about the bible he'll stand up and read his study notes and we just love him. He's always coming up and introducing himself to new people and giving us hugs and talking to us so he's there everywhere--we like that, too. He's constant."
"I love it here," Liddell said before a meeting. "We share for the worship, for Jesus."
