Football coaches will be quick to admit that no season can be successful without the support of a dedicated, engergized booster club, and San Antonio Brandeis coach David Branscom isn’t about to buck that trend.

Brandeis’ football boosters help ensure things go smoothly on game days, that everything with the program represents the school properly, and that the players in the program develop into men who always know to do the right thing, to practice good character and lead by example.

While club members work closely to get everything accomplished, Branscom said few are as helpful, hard-working, and effective as Yve Flowers. 

“She is a big part of our booster club and always goes above and beyond in every way,” he said. “She is always there whenever there is a need, and she wants to see kids look beyond themselves. She is the definition of a servant leader.”

For Flowers, joining and serving the booster club wasn’t as much a biproduct of wanting to be close to her youngest son as he wrapped up his high school career. It offered her a chance to work with like-minded parents who wanted to accomplish two key goals: to help Brandeis put its best foot forward, both on the gridiron and in the community; and to help the players understand that their obligations extend well beyond the field’s boundaries.

“Ever since I was 15 years old, I have believed that you have to give back to your community,” Flowers said. “If you are blessed to have who support you and believe in you, then that is your duty, to pay that forward.”

Flowers has been paying it forward in bunches, but she insists she’s not alone.

“I am blessed,” she said. “Our booster club is full of people who all go hard to get things accomplished. This is a total team effort, and I don’t do any of this by myself. Everyone I work with brings their own strengths, and that’s what makes us successful.”

One of Flowers – and the club’s – successes will be on display for the first time at Saturday’s home opener at Farris Stadium. Last year she noticed that the club’s merchandise trailer, which goes with them to every game, needed some TLC.

“The letters were peeling off,” she said. “The website on the trailer doesn’t exist any more. Spirit is my responsibility for the club, and that trailer is where we keep al of our spirit stuff. We drive it to Farris every week. When I saw what other schools were bringing their spirit stuff in, I was a little embarrassed, so I decided to do something about it. I’m excited to see it. I feel like a little kid.”

Why the excitement, and why the push to get it done before the first game?

“We always talk about repping the B,” Flowers said. “We need to do it the right way…with everything we do.”

Which brings us back to Flowers’ second goal, helping her son – and the rest of the football players – understand that life extends beyond the gridiron, and no matter their circumstances, others may have it worse.

“This is about more than football,” Flowers explains. “It’s about building character. It’s one of the things I love about Coach Branscom. You feel that his heart is truly in it for everyone. He helps you think outside the box with the things you are passionate about doing for others.  He wants to help them become better men, and I see that.”

For Branscom, it comes back to Flowers’ passion and ability to lead by serving. She sets the example for her children: kindness and compassion no matter what life throws at you.

“That is our responsibility,” she said. “Not just to our own kid but to the kids who surround our kids. You never know when what you do or say will impact someone for the rest of their life.”