Alabama basketball honors Wadesboro-native, ‘Bama superfan Luke Ratliff

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Before the first basketball game of the season against Louisiana Tech on Nov. 9, the Crimson Tide honored superfan and Wadesboro’s own Luke Ratliff at Coleman Coliseum.

Luke Ratliff died at age 23 on April 2, 2021 from complications related to COVID-19.

He was going to graduate in August with a degree in public relations, but was better known to the University of Alabama as basketball superfan “Fluffopotamus” or just “Fluff.” Ratliff was the president of the student section, the Crimson Chaos. He attended most games last season, including 32 away games, and his famous plaid jacket could always be seen.

“Ratliff was part of us,” Head Coach Nate Oats said. “Hopefully the spirit of what he was about stays with the student section.”

After hearing of Ratliff’s passing in April, Oats tweeted, “Devastating news. Doesn’t seem real. Fluff has been our biggest supporter since day one. Put all he had into our program. Loved sharing this ride with him. You’ll be missed dearly my man! Wish we had one more victory cigar and hug together. Roll Tide forever.”

The athletics program named a scholarship fund in Ratliff’s honor following his death, but the actual memorial took place during the first game of the basketball season on Nov. 9 against Louisiana Tech.

At the pregame, the basketball team presented a video about Ratliff which got a standing ovation from the packed student crowd, who also donned plaid blazers. Oats, Alabama Athletics Director Greg Byrne, and assistant coach Bryan Hodgson also gave Ratliff’s parents a plaque and memorialized him with his very own seat in the student section, so he would attend the games in spirit.

Ratliff’s parents then started a new tradition by giving a plaid blazer to the new president of the Crimson Chaos, Blake Bullock, to pass down their son’s spirit and leadership.

“’Thank you’ just isn’t adequate. We are so humbled by the love shown to us and our boy tonight,” his mother Pam tweeted following the event. “Thanks for the opportunity to feel close to my Luke again. This mama’s heart is full tonight.”

His parents were given his diploma in June.

“It’s a huge part of Luke that he loved Alabama,” Pam told Tuscaloosa News. “And this was something he did. This wasn’t the boisterous kid who dressed up in the plaid jacket that everybody knew. Everybody knew Fluffopotamus but everybody didn’t know Luke. This isn’t something honorary. This was something that he earned. When he’d do something good, even as a teenager, he would say ‘Mama, I’m on my victory lap.’ This was his victory lap.”

Luke “Fluff” Ratliff and his spirit will for sure be missed in the Crimson Tide student section and in Wadesboro.