This is an opinion column.

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It can be written with confidence that the Alabama men’s basketball player with the most fans over the age of 55 is Sam Walters.

Walters is Alabama’s rangy freshman shooter with the big grin. He comes off the bench and plays in spurts. Here’s the curious thing about Walters going into the Final Four out here in Arizona. Alabama’s reserve big man with all the potential in the world is from a place where most of the free world — or at least New Jersey — has apparently gone to retire.

Walters is from The Villages, Florida, and he played high school basketball at The Villages Charter School.

Everyone knows about the The Villages at this point. It’s the massive retirement community in Central Florida. If you’re surprised to learn that there’s a high school at The Villages, then you’re not alone. Naturally, I had to ask Walters all about it.

“They call themselves the Villagers,” Walters said, “and they’re the best. They came to all my games in high school.”

At that point, I knew I had a pretty fun story to tell. It gets better.

What’s it like to grow up in The Villages? I’ll let the basketball coach from The Villages Charter School explain the uniquely Florida phenomenon. Colt McDowell coaches the basketball team. McDowell says he grew up in The Villages after his dad moved there in the early 80s.

“The Villages started as a traditional 55-and-older community with 5,000 to 10,000 homes in the late 70s, but it has grown into 250,000 residents and takes up 55 square miles,” McDowell said. “It’s a huge place and our charter school exists because all the residents — the retirees — need doctors, lawyers, grocery stores, restaurants, home builders, you name it.”

The Villages Charter School is a charter-in-the-workplace, which means that to attend the school the students must have family members who work in The Villages. Sam’s mom, Heidi Walters, works for a therapy company. She moved to The Villages from Orlando for the job.

There are some unlikely roads to the Final Four, and then there’s the path taken by Sam Walters of the University of Alabama. It just made me smile when I learned about it. Alabama is in the Final Four for the first time. Walters’ story is a reminder of how it takes the perfect blend of players to make history.

It’s also a reminder of how it doesn’t really matter where you come from just as long as you’re 6-10 and can shoot 3-pointers.

Walters is a role player for Alabama, but it’s the role players on the team who have fueled the journey to Glendale, Arizona. Certainly it will take a few ancillary heroes making some shots to advance beyond this next opponent. Alabama (25-11) takes on top-seeded and defending national champ UConn (35-3) at 7:49 p.m. CT on Saturday at State Farm Arena. Alabama is a heavy underdog. Walters is a freshman who comes off the bench, but at this point in the season there are no minor roles.

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“Mo Dioubate stepped up against Grand Canyon, Grant [Nelson] played well against UNC and then I feel like I stepped up against Clemson,” said Alabama freshman Jarin Stevenson. “Different players are just prepared and ready.”

Maybe Walters is the next player to come through for the Crimson Tide. He scored five points against North Carolina and had some key defensive contributions in the Round of 32 against Grand Canyon University. Alabama began recruiting Walters during the summer before his senior season. Former assistant coach Antonie Pettway found a gem, but residents of The Villages knew about Walters before anyone else.

“Our booster club is not a typical booster club that raises money for the high school,” McDowell said. “Our booster club is residents that live here in The Villages and there’s about 400 of them. We meet with the booster club every Thursday, and every Thursday we have about 250 to 200 people there for the meeting.”

The Villagers drive their golf carts to the home basketball games and booster club meetings. For road games, the school rents buses for the Villagers.

“Every game that we have, the 250 diehards of the booster club are the first ones in the gym,” McDowell said. “So, we don’t really have away games.”

Sam’s eyes lit up when I asked him about the Villagers. He said Villagers heckle opposing teams, cheer louder than everyone and become really close friends with players. Their support means a lot. About 65 members of the booster club attended Walters’ game this season at the University of Florida.

“It’s pretty cool because a lot of those boosters, they move to The Villages and they’re not around their kids and grandkids anymore, and they adopt our kids as their kids and they stay in touch with them,” McDowell said.

Villagers write letters to players and invite their families to dinner. All sports at the school are well attended from football to basketball to swimming and girls’ Olympic weightlifting. I’ve never heard of anything like it.

Sam’s Army will be watching the Final Four from Central Florida and, win or lose against UConn, Walters will be a Villages superstar when he returns home this summer. He can expect plenty of lasagna dinners and maybe even a couple golf carts decorated in his honor.

SOUND OFF

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama”.