Austin Peay State University (APSU)
Clarksville, TN – On Saturday, November 17th, 2018 during the Austin Peay State University (APSU) Military Appreciation Football Game, the University officially dedicated a POW-MIA chair in the stadium.
As excitement continues to build around Austin Peay’s football program and fans fill the stands at Fortera Stadium, one seat near the American flag will always remain empty.
“Nobody can sit in it,” Brenden Smith, an APSU chemistry major, said. “That chair is to symbolize all the people who didn’t come home.”
For more than two years, members of APSU’s Sigma Chi fraternity raised money for the memorial.
Several sports venues around the country have installed similar chairs, and when Smith, former president of Sigma Chi, saw one at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, he knew he wanted one at Austin Peay.
“My family is very big in the military, and I’m just one of the fortunate kids where my parents came home,” he said. “I’m really grateful for that.”
Smith’s parents and stepparents served in the military, as do two of his brothers and his uncle.
His grandfather fought in Vietnam and his great-grandfather served in World War II.
Smith’s fraternity and the fraternity’s alumni chapter helped collect money for the project, raising more than $1,400 for the chair and a special plaque.
Now, no matter how large of a crowd attends an Austin Peay football game, this chair in Section G will remain empty to remind fans of the sacrifices made over the years by servicemen and -women.