GRAFTON, Wis. — A local volunteer has been grilling up burgers at Grafton football games for nearly two decades.
Dave Smith has been the dedicated griller for Grafton Black Hawks football games, cooking up around 100 burgers and dozens of bratwurst for fans at every home game.
Watch: Grafton High School volunteer grills up nearly two decades of game-day tradition
The volunteer took on the role when his children were in school 18 years ago. Now, little can stop him from showing up to work the snack shack at Kellner Field.
"I had a surgery yesterday, and I've had a few surgeries over the years that — I've missed maybe three or four weeks in all these years," Smith said.
Smith usually begins his game-day routine four hours before kickoff, firing up the grill and preparing batches of smoked burgers. He marinates the bratwurst overnight to ensure they're ready for hungry fans.
Fellow concession stand volunteer Sharyn Kalies praised both Smith's cooking and character.
"Dave's food is amazing, only seconded by his own personality," Kalies said. "He's wonderful. I'm proud to be out here every week with him."
The first batch of burgers is typically ready around 4 p.m., with the final batch finished before kickoff. For Smith, the weekly tradition represents more than just food service.
"This is a great place to come and see all those people once a week and say hi and see how they're doing... To me, that's what football is. It's kind of like a Friday night tailgate," Smith said.
Grafton beat Wisconsin Lutheran 35-13 Thursday evening to move to 4-0 on the season.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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