“If you don’t like Cleve Wester, you need to go look in the mirror because it’s you, it ain’t Cleve Wester,” said Dye, the famed Auburn Tigers coach who led the team to four Southeastern Conference Championships from 1981-92. “He stands for all the right things.”

When Auburn was looking for a coach in the early 1980s, Wester played a big role in campaigning for Dye’s hiring. He pushed for what he thought was right — and he was right on about Dye.

Just as his time spent on The Plains, the same could also be said of him during his time in Albany, where he grew up. His contributions were not confined to a football field, where he lettered from 1956-58 and helped Auburn win the Associated Press’ 1957 national title under coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan.

Wester’s athleticism and heart on the field drew fans. His character and humility off it — whether working in civic groups or at his business, Cleve Wester’s Tire Mart — drew universal respect.

It is difficult to not hear those themes while listening to those who know him. And because of those folks, Wester, now 73 and still living in Albany, is being honored by the Southwest Georgia Auburn Club with an endowed scholarship next week in his name that is tentatively expected to be first awarded in spring 2010.

“It goes toward carrying his legacy and giving an Auburn student a chance to experience the Auburn way of life,” said Southwest Georgia Auburn Club president Hank Jester, who graduated Auburn in 1982 and said the goal is to have at least $25,000 in the scholarship fund by the end of next week.

Returning the favor for Wester is the theme for this week’s inaugural E. Cleve Wester Scholarship Quail Hunt. It all begins with a Tuesday dinner that will be held at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn, with 225 scheduled attendees as of Saturday, honoring Wester’s accomplishments and contributions to both Auburn and Southwest Georgia.

The reception is at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner at 7 ($75 a ticket).

Then Wednesday will be the actual quail hunt at Arlington’s Quail Country Plantation ($500 half a day, $1,000 full day), which is also being held to help raise funds for the endowed scholarship.

“Cleve Wester was very instrumental in me attending Auburn,” said Quail Country general manager Bill Bowles, who also graduated Auburn in 1982. “When I attended Deerfield-Windsor, he volunteered as a football coach there (from 1977 until the early ’90s when Wester’s youngest son, Bo, graduated). He just influenced a lot of youth and civic groups and business people. There are so many people who have looked up to him for so many years.”

Although Dye, now a special assistant to Auburn’s president, will not be able to attend the dinner because of a previous engagement, he said he will attend the hunt.

And that’s OK, because the Tigers are coming out in full force to support Wester.

Others planning to attend the dinner and hunt are new Auburn football coach Gene Chizik and as many assistant coaches as he can bring. Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs, assistant athletic director Joe Whitt and ex-Auburn offensive line coach Hugh Nall — who now works in Albany — will also attend.

“This is what the Auburn family is all about, helping one another out,” Jacobs told The Herald on Friday. “It’s our pleasure to be able to come together and honor a great person and former football player in Cleve Wester. We embrace our own.”

Whitt, who coached Auburn’s linebackers from 1981-2005, feels the turnout from the “Auburn family” is only fitting.

“When you speak of Cleve Wester, the Auburn family has nothing but love and respect for him,” Whitt said. “He’s just been so special to Auburn. Everybody understands what he means to Auburn. When you see Cleve Wester, you understand the true value and nature of Auburn and the Auburn people.”

Not only does Wester care about Auburn, he’s just as passionate about Southwest Georgia’s youth. He even turned many of them into Auburn football fans, taking hoards of fans at a time to Jordan-Hare Stadium on fall Saturdays. One of those kids, many years later, told Wester’s wife, Elizabeth, he experienced his first college football game because of Wester.

“You know what, if you know Cleve, you’re going to love Auburn too,” Elizabeth said.

“Auburn football has just always been something fun and special to him. How can you not think Auburn is wonderful after spending time with Cleve? He has always given Auburn credit for everything good that has happened to him.”

Humble beginnings

Former Dougherty County sheriff Jamil Saba remembers playing football with Wester at Albany High. From the time practice began in late summer, he recognized more in Wester than just hustle.

“He just had a lot of heart. He put a lot of heart into everything he did,” Saba said. “He just used everything he had.”

Wester, however, broke a leg during his senior year at Albany, and withered down to 165 pounds while he was injured. That did not deter Jordan, however, in signing Wester. The year after Auburn won the national title, the Tigers voted him their MVP in 1958.

“He probably got the most of his abilities than anybody who played at Auburn,” said Albany’s Mickey Crawford, who owns the oil business next to Cleve Wester’s Tire Mart. “His heart and desire was that high.”

Although Wester was drafted by the NFL’s New York Giants, he opted to play in the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts because it paid more money. Then, he played one year with the Boston Patriots, who are now known as the three-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

Taking care of business

Once Wester’s football career ended, he decided to venture into the tire business after previously working for his uncle, Henry Wester. More than 30 years later, the famed landmark store is still going strong as it sits on Oglethorpe Boulevard where a car dealership once was many years ago.

Becoming a successful businessman was not hard for Wester. It required what was demanded of him on the football field: dedication, heart and sheer will to make it work.

“He loved the people, he enjoyed business and the association with others, doing for others,” Elizabeth said. “It was his livelihood. It was nothing he majored in (his Auburn degree at the time was in building construction). I think he saw an opportunity after working for his uncle. He found his niche.”

From there, Wester’s importance after football became just as important as it was when he wore an Indians or Tigers uniform.

“He has been a pillar in the community for 50 years or more,” Jester said.

Lending a helping hand

If there is one thing that made Wester a successful businessman, it was his eagerness to connect with people, whether they are customers at his store or people he crosses paths with in downtown Albany.

If there is anything anyone needs, Wester is always willing to help.

“He’s always tried to put himself in other people’s shoes that had a problem,” Elizabeth said. “There is nothing in this world he wouldn’t do for anybody. He’s probably the most honest person I had ever met in my life. I have never, ever heard anybody say anything but good things about him, and I think that’s true of anyone you talk to about him.”

Ex-Auburn quarterback Ben Leard could not agree more.

“He’s always gone out of his way to help anybody, whether it was Auburn or anybody in South Georgia,” said Leard, who now does a sports radio show in Alabama.

Wester’s helping hand was extended to Dye when Dye and Albany native Frank Orgel worked as assistants at East Carolina. Wester thought Dye was the perfect candidate to turn the Tigers around, so he made countless calls on Dye’s behalf, campaigning for his hiring.

And it worked.

“Really and truly, the friendship between he and I go beyond football,” Dye said. “He wanted me to be at Auburn. He is one of the great people in my life as far as friendship is concerned. First of all, I have a lot of requests to do charity stuff and the minute they told me this was in honor of Cleve Wester, it was a no-brainer as far as I was concerned.”

It was also a no-brainer for Nall, who came with former coach Tommy Tuberville from Mississippi in 1999 and coached mostly the Tigers’ offensive line during his time at AU.

“Cleve (was) who I was introduced to when I first started coaching at Auburn. And that’s the first stop I made,” said Nall, whose contract with Auburn was terminated when Tuberville resigned after this past season. “He is just a great contact in the South Georgia area and a good person to get to know. He’s just turned out to be one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

Lasting legacy

The E. Cleve Wester Scholarship is intended to continue what Wester has always done: lend a helping hand.

“I think it will be a long-lasting staple on his legacy for years to come,” Leard said. “There will always be somebody to benefit from him being so gracious.”

Nall also feels that the scholarship is a fitting way to continue Wester’s legacy.

“It’s a cause he would be proud of,” Nall said. “It’s helping people so they have a chance to go to Auburn and continue their education, and it’s something (with) Cleve’s name tied to it. It’s a perfect way of expressing the type of person he is.”

Wester’s legacy carries on in other ways.

“I’d say when you see that infectious smile and grin,” Dye said. “I can remember the times we went fishing together down in Florida when just the two of us were in a boat fishing. If we wanted to talk, we talked. If we didn’t, we just fished. Those were special times.”

For Elizabeth, her husband is best exemplified in a Bette Midler song.

“You know that song ‘Wind beneath my wings?’ ” Elizabeth asked. “He is my hero, and I think he is everybody’s hero.”

****EDITOR’S NOTE: Cleve Wester was unavailable to be interviewed for this story.