Sonja Anderson doesn’t miss a basketball game. A season ticket holder since the early '90s, the Jackrabbit Women’s Equipment Manager also makes time for women’s softball, soccer, and volleyball games.
“It’s just what I do. It’s something I look forward to. In some respects, it’s my job, but it’s more than that.”
Sonja explained that there is a real sense of community, family even, among Jackrabbit student-athletes and the staff who support them.
“I call them my kids,” she said. “You know, sometimes it’s a platitude when people say, ‘It’s like family.’ But here, at SDSU, it is the truth.”
As an only child, being part of the big family that is Jackrabbit Women’s Athletics means a lot to Sonja.
“This is my family. They are my kids,” she said. “I don’t have brothers or sisters, no nieces or nephews of my own.”
This may come as a surprise to those who know her today, but growing up, Sonja didn’t go to ball games. Instead, the Garvin, Minnesota, farmgirl spent most of her free time gardening with her mom or helping out with chores, like filling the cattle water tanks.
“Growing up, it was just the three of us. So, I had a special relationship with my folks,” she said of her parents, Russell and Candace Anderson. “We lived 15 miles from town. Dad was the kind of guy, that once you were home from school, you stayed home. You didn’t go back into town for games, but we did watch Fran Tarkenton on Sunday afternoons after church – a football player for the Minnesota Vikings, don’t ya know,” she jokes.
Sonja’s close bond with her parents impacted her decision to stay close to home and finish a bachelor’s in horticulture at SDSU after receiving an associate degree from the University of Minnesota Waseca.
She graduated in 1988 and returned home to Minnesota. After working in the field of horticulture, she decided to pursue a degree in education. This led her back to Brookings. Even though Sonja didn’t end up making a career of teaching, working in the classroom did guide her to the job and family she loves today.
How? She met Ruth Anderson.
“I student taught for Ruth Anderson at Medary Elementary, and she and LeRoy became like my second parents.”
Coincidentally, Ruth and her husband, LeRoy, share Sonja’s last name.
Longtime Jackrabbit season ticketholders, the couple’s enthusiasm was contagious.
“I didn’t even go to games when I was a student, but the day after a game, I would hear Ruth talking about the game with other teachers, and I thought, ‘This sounds interesting.’”
Once Sonja began joining them at games, she was hooked. She even asked for time off from work to attend games.
“When I first started going to games, it was just so entertaining watching the players. Today, it is fun watching my girls and cheering them on by name,” Sonja explained.
