Kennebunk’s Don Crisman streak of attending every Super Bowl still has life.
Crisman, 84, received notification from the NFL Monday morning that he would receive two tickets – at face value – for Super Bowl LV in Tampa, Florida, on Feb. 7.
Crisman is one of two surviving members of the Never-Missed-A-Super-Bowl club that was featured in two Visa commercials in 2010. He has attended each of the previous 54 Super Bowls and has seen his beloved New England Patriots play in 11 and win six.
“All is well,” said Crisman. “I’m a happy camper right now.”
A week ago, Crisman wasn’t sure he’d be able to go. Since 1999, the NFL has set aside two tickets at face value for each of the super fans.
But he was contacted by the NFL on New Year’s Day and told they would not be able to offer him tickets this year. The coronavirus pandemic has forced teams to limit the number of fans they allow in stadiums all season, with many clubs, including the Patriots, playing before empty stands.
The NFL still hasn’t announced how many fans will be allowed into Raymond James Stadium, site of the game and home to the Buccaneers.
About two weeks later, the NFL contacted him again to tell him there was a possibility they could provide tickets. Monday they came through. Crisman will attend the game with his daughter, Susan Metevier. Their seats will be in a corner of one of the end zones.
“They’re not in the front row or anything,” said Crisman.
He noted that fellow super Tom Henschel of Pittsburgh – the only other survivor of the original group – has seats in the same section but 10 rows higher. They may be joined by Gregory Eaton of Lansing, Michigan, who joined their crew at Super Bowl 50.
“We probably won’t be allowed to sit with each other,” said Crisman. “But we’ll get together.”
Crisman said some family members would prefer he didn’t go, given the surging cases of COVID-19 nationally. “But we are going,” he said.
He and Metevier will fly to Tampa on Feb. 3 and, because of COVID-19 protocols, Crisman expects to have fewer obligations than in previous years.
He is hopeful, now that Maine is providing COVID-19 vaccine shots to people 70-and-over, that he will be able to get his soon. Metevier, who works at Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford, has already received her two doses of the vaccine.
And he’s hoping for a chance to see former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who led New England to all those titles, play in one more. Brady’s new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will play the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game on Sunday, with the winner advancing to Super Bowl LV.
“I’d like to see (Brady) have additional success,” said Crisman. “But I still think we’re going to see a Green Bay-Kansas City Super Bowl.”
And that would be a repeat of the very first one. Would that be the bookend to Crisman’s Super Bowl streak?
“Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know. I just wanted to go one more time and hopefully we will come back home healthy.”
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