Morgantown was a snowy mess on Jan. 12, to the point where many West Virginia basketball fans were forced to walk to the Coliseum to see the team take down No. 1 Kansas. Among those who couldn’t make it was the person scheduled to sing the Star-Spangled Banner that night prior to tipoff.

So Carlton Smith, working the game as a university police officer, answered the call. A former Mountaineer Idol, an American Idol contestant, and a WVU graduate, Smith stepped in to sing that night’s National Anthem and set the tone for a special evening for the Old Gold and Blue.