Don Crisman holds a Super Bowl 50 football at his home in Kennebunk in a January 2017 file photo. (Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald file photo)
Don Crisman has attended every Super Bowl, dating back to 1967. And he’s not about to miss this year’s game.
Crisman, an 81-year-old Kennebunk resident, will leave Tuesday to spend the week in Minneapolis, where he will cheer for the New England Patriots as they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4.
Crisman is a select member of the Never-Missed-A-Super-Bowl club. His group was down to three members for last year’s Super Bowl – Crisman, Tom Henschel of Pittsburgh and Larry Jacobson of San Francisco. Jacobson died nine months later, on Oct. 30.
“He was one of a kind,” Crisman said Wednesday. “I miss him greatly.”
As of two years ago, the NFL recognized 13 others in addition to Crisman’s group who have attended every Super Bowl – five fans, three writers, three photographers, a groundskeeper and a team official.
Starting with the Super Bowl in 2000, the NFL has set aside two tickets for each member of Crisman’s club at face value.
Crisman intended to stop the streak at 50 consecutive Super Bowls, but decided to continue it last year because the Patriots were playing against Atlanta.
“As far as next year,” Crisman said, “I’ll have to think hard if this is going to be it.”
Like last year, he’ll be accompanied by his daughter, Susan Metevier, in Minneapolis. “I need someone to keep me out of trouble,” he said. “And to keep me from getting lost.”
And Crisman is not exactly fond of heading to Minnesota in February. Most Super Bowls are held in warm-weather cities.
“I’m thinking of calling the airline and changing my flight from Tuesday to Monday,” said Crisman. “You’ve got a whole different deal here, you can have bad weather on either end. You used to feel once you got out of Maine, you were safe.”
But Crisman said he won’t miss the chance to cheer on the Patriots, who are in the Super Bowl for a record 10th time and have won five.
“I hope for the best,” he said. “And I hope the Patriots come home with No. 6.”
Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or:
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