If you buy tickets and attend Cowboy and Cowgirl athletic events, you've seen her face a hundred times.

Many of you may even know her by name.

She always welcomes with you with a smile.  Sometimes she may not know your name-- most times she does—but rest assured she is always all kinds of helpful.

Her name is Janie Daniels and she has worked at the UW Athletics Ticket Office and in its various ticket-selling locations throughout the department's venues.

When the Cowboys host Eastern Washington tonight in the Arena-Auditorium at 7 p.m., it will be Janie's last game after 18 years of helping you at Wyoming games.

Daniels' primary duties in her part time role is to sell tickets.  She has worked every event--I mean every event, she hasn't missed many--from basketball to soccer, volleyball to wrestling.  Her interaction with Wyoming fans is an art that is becoming a lost art.  Her customer service is second to none.

"She's always positive, with a smile on her face," says Associate Athletics Director for Ticketing and Sales Joe Verschueren who has worked with Daniels for three years.  "She is definitely our star."

As of tomorrow, Daniels will be retired. Her husband, George, is a retired UW math professor.

"Oh, it's very hard to leave," Janie says of her ticket post.  "Sports has been in my blood.  It seems I've always been in the bleachers watching my children compete, or in a ticket booth," she says. "Our customers have become my friends.  With so many of them, I know where they like to sit, and I've been able to help them find just the right seats. Customer service has really made me feel good.  I've had a lot of pleasurable moments helping our fans.  Wyoming people are just the best

"But it's time George and I traveled and spent more time with our two children, (son Tim and daughter Debbie) and our six grandchildren.  "We're both 75 years old, and healthy, and it's time to open a new chapter, see if there's something else out there we might enjoy doing.  We are going to take a while and do some traveling and see some places. But I have a feeling we'll probably end up living somewhere near one of our children.

It's sad for me to leave, but I have so many great memories."

One of Daniels' greatest memories is the Cowgirls' run in the WNIT to win the national championship.  "That was so exciting, because everyone was happy," she says.  Maybe her all-time memory, however, involved Cowboy basketball star Marcus Bailey.

"We were having a pizza party for my grandson's (Dusty) 10^th birthday," she recalls.  "He loved Marcus Bailey.  He was his hero. Marcus was kind enough to come to the party.  I'll never forget it, and I guarantee Dusty will never forget it."

UW can thank Daniels' son Tim for making her a Wyoming fan.

"We lived in Colorado Springs, working in the public school system," she says.  "We rooted for the Colorado schools, especially the Air Force Academy.  But when my son Tim received a scholarship to play baseball at Wyoming, we became Poke fans.  He and his teammates went to other sporting events, and invited us to come along.  We got excited about Wyoming, and we were hooked."

Tim became an outstanding pitcher for the Cowboys during some of Wyoming baseball's most successful seasons of the mid-to-late 1980's.

"We moved to Laramie when George got a teaching job here, and I figured I'd better find something to do myself," Daniels continues.  "I was driving by the Double A one day, saw the ticket office sign, and thought, 'that might keep me around athletics, so I went in and applied for a job."

Matt Wildt, UW's athletics ticket manager at the time, hired her.  That was in 1999.

While Tim's baseball career made it easy for the Daniels family to root for the Pokes, there was a stretch during Janie's time in the ticket office that her daughter Debbie's husband made cheering for the Cowboys a bit of a challenge. Her son-in-law, Kendall Williams, was an outstanding basketball player for the University of New Mexico. "When the Lobos came to town, I had to root for Kendall," she says with almost an apologetic tone in her voice.  But that's the only time I didn't pull for the Cowboys."

She has really gotten to know a lot of Cowboy fans through the years.  Does she have any favorites?

"Oh yes, a lot of them, but one of my most special is Pete Simpson.  I know he's a very popular man in this state, and I can see why.  He always cared how I was doing.  A very nice man, and it was always a nice surprise when he came to my booth."  

Daniels says she has been appreciative of all the UW ticket managers she has worked with through the seasons.  "I've enjoyed working with all of them.  They've all had different personalities, and different ways of doing things.  It's a difficult job, at times, and patience is a requirement. I've really enjoyed working with Joe (Verschueren).  He's a great guy and is especially patient."

Her job has probably been much better than the average ticket seller because of her wonderful personality. "Through all the years I have to say I've never had a disgruntled fans.  Wyoming fans are so great. They have a lot of enthusiasm, but they have a lot of understanding too.  I've always felt like they knew I would be able to help them.

"They have a very special place in my heart."

Enjoy traveling Janie, and thanks for your years of service.  We're going to miss you, and YOU will always have a special place in our hearts!