During Sunday Night Football, Mike Tirico zeroed in on one particular fan in the stands at Ford Field.
Benjamin Capp from Grosse Pointe has been a Detroit Lions season ticket holder for 66 years.
On Sunday (Jan. 14) night, Capp saw in person that the 30-plus year drought had ended.
Capp said he had an idea that he could be singled out on the broadcast mainly because his daughter had connections to speak with Tirrico. But he thought it would be a quick one-shot deal.
He had no idea he would get almost as much facetime as Matthew Stafford, and his phone hasn’t stopped ringing and pinging all day. He’s a wonderful man and a wonderful fan, and at 89 years young, he is surely enjoying the ride.
Capp, lions season ticket holder since 1957
“I just got out of the army in 1956,” said Capp. “The game was on Dec. 29, and my brother and two older buddies decided to go to that game, which we did. It was exciting they won the national championship. I thought I’d get season tickets thinking this winning was going to continue.”
Capp, who ran the Wolverine Stone family business, brought family, sons, friends, and clients to Old Tiger Stadium, the Pontiac Silverdome where he cheered for Barry Sanders and his teammates and Ford Field.
He said his favorite era was the 1960s.
“I enjoyed the ‘60s, and I’m going to see Alex Karras and that group and how we knocked off Green Bay on Thanksgiving and so forth,” Capp said. “But this is the year, maybe even last year, I believe in the management.”
He says going to the games was more about football than winning or losing.
“People in this city want a team they can cheer for, and then they can continue to cheer, which they’ve done through the very lean years,” Capp said. “Bags on their heads and so forth, but they came and kept coming. It’s an inner love. I don’t know that every city has that, but this city does.”
As for this season’s promise, Capp thinks the Lions can achieve greatness this year.
“I thought it could happen this year because they made such a huge change, Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell, no doubt about it,” Capp said. “Campbell is the No. 1 reason. He’s created a family team, and he’s also created a family of fans and the way I look at it and the things I see, so I thought they could.”
He has no idea how many games he’s been to but added he’s only gone to about half the games played, as others used the tickets.
Capp started with two, then four, and then had six in the Silverdome. And beyond his now legendary fandom, he has his own indelible mark on Ford Field itself as his company made and installed the marble lion logos that ring it’s exterior.
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