COLUMBIA, S.C. — It was not long into my youth when I realized I was little different than most kids my age.

I was not different in the sense that I loved playing ball, riding my bike and pulling the hair of little girls in pigtails. I was a normal little boy in those instances.

However, where I differed was my knowledge of sports, in particular with history, numbers and statistics. I was a nerd, if you will, when it came to those things.

It did not help that my oldest brother, Don, fed my hunger for sports knowledge. He was always amazed with how I remembered events, moments and numbers from past games, so he always bought me sports almanacs for my birthday or Christmas. Super Bowl books or any football book he could find.

He knew I would absorb all the information I could, and I did.

What he feed more than anything was my hunger for Clemson sports information. He knew how much I loved the Tigers, particularly Clemson football.

He worked in the radio business for decades, at one point for the Clemson Sports Network and WFBC in Greenville. When he saw me, he always handed me Bob Bradley’s weekly game notes for Clemson football or bring me home football and basketball media guides.

When he left WFBC, but stayed in the radio business, he continued to supply me with Clemson sports information stuff, as he always found a way to get the station he worked at to be a part of the Clemson Sports Network.

Of course, this is how I first learned who Mr. Bradley and Tim Bourret were. Perhaps, unknowingly, no two men shaped my career more.

The basis of what I do began with their game notes and media guides.

Years later, when I got the job to the be sports editor at the Journal in Seneca, the first person I went to meet was Tim Bourret, who had been Clemson’s Sports Information Director since 1989 and worked at Clemson in the SID office since 1978.

It was a crazy moment for me. I was going to be working with one of my idols. I can tell you, Tim Bourret did not disappoint what I imagined.

When I walked into his office to introduce myself and tell him my plans for the paper, and my Clemson coverage, Tim was at his desk with several media guides opened and was writing on a yellow legal pad.

He was doing what I do at least once every day. Never before have I ever felt more at home. We talked for a few minutes and then I went on my way. It was a surreal moment.

It’s a moment I did not take for granted.

Through the years, going on 23 now, I have worked alongside Tim and got to know him and his lovely wife, Kaye. Tim was my direct supervisor for three years when I worked at IPTAY Media. That experience allowed me to get to know him a little better and become an extended member of Tim’s SID Family. I am like the weird second cousin in the family.

It just so happened my other brother, Kevin, who is a photographer, got the opportunity to shoot Tim’s and Kaye’s wedding three years ago. A Vandervort actually documented, through pictures, a moment in Tim Bourret’s history. How ironic is that?

Monday night was a cool moment at the Columbia Convention Center in Columbia, S.C. Though former South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier was being enshrined in the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, there was a strong Clemson presence in Columbia.

Former women’s head coach Jim Davis, who is also a legend at Clemson and someone I call a friend as well, was also being enshrined, as well as former baseball All-American Brian Barnes. They both had a small army of Clemson faithful and family members with them.

Then there was Tim.

More than 20 of his former students, who worked under him at Clemson were in attendance, as were head coach Dabo Swinney and several members of the football staff. There were Clemson administrators there too, such as athletic director Graham Neff, along with former sportswriters and current broadcasters who Tim has helped over the years. They were all there to see Tim.

I was there, too.

It was a cool experience. I never imagined, as a 10-year-old little boy, that more than 40 years later I would be attending Tim Bourret’s South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame enshrinement.

It’s crazy how things happen in life. Congratulations, Tim! Your enshrinement into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame is well deserved.

Thanks for letting me be a small part of it, but more importantly, thanks for shaping my career. Even though, at the time, you had no idea you were doing it.