TAMPA, Fla. — And then there were four.

Tom Henschel, 68, of Cabot is one of four men to attend every Super Bowl game played. There were five until last year, when 89-year-old Stan Whitaker of Denver failed to make the Steelers-Arizona Cardinals matchup in Tampa.

Henschel winters in Tampa and lives in Cabot during the summer.

"Stan suffers from dementia and couldn't handle the trip last year," Henschel said. "We missed him. He's like everybody's grandfather.

"He's been a Denver Broncos season-ticket holder since Day 1 of their existence. I've called him a couple of times to see how he's doing."

Henschel, Larry Jacobsen of San Francisco, Don Crisman of Maine and Bob Cook of Green Bay, Wis., are the remaining four to attend every Super Bowl. They will meet for lunch in Miami Saturday, then sit together in the stadium for Super Bowl XLIV.

The NFL has been ensuring their opportunity to buy tickets to the game for the past 14 years. Their seats are always together.

"We all get along well, but this is the only time of year we get together," Henschel said. "We meet for lunch the Saturday before the game every year. Larry's a 49ers fan, Don loves the Patriots and Bob, of course, is into the Packers.

"They all hate my Steelers, but that's OK. I can't stand any of their teams, either. We have fun with it."

Henschel grew up a "football freak," in his words, his father taking him to numerous Pitt and Steelers games.

He tended bar four nights a week, near O'Hara Airport in Chicago, in 1965 and got to know a number of NFL players. He befriended then Chicago Bears quarterback Jack Concannon.

"That's who got me tickets to the first two Super Bowls," Henschel recalled. "No one cared much about those games. My tickets to the first three Super Bowls cost me $12 each.

"I got my own ticket for Super Bowl III because I loved Joe Namath. He played against my high school (Har-Brack) and I wasn't going to miss him play against the Colts.

"Jack got me tickets for the next two Super Bowls. After that, I felt like I should just keep going," he added.

Besides tending bar, Henschel was employed as a ticket agent at the airport.

"I could fly for free. That made going to all those games affordable for me," he said.

The Super Bowl has been played in eight states: Florida, Texas, California, Louisiana, Georgia, Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota. It's been played in New Orleans and Miami nine times each.

Henschel's streak nearly ended after it had just begun when he suffered a severe asthma attack the morning of Super Bowl VI in New Orleans.

"I couldn't breathe. I remember dropping to my hands and knees in the middle of the street," Henschel said. "I thought I was going to die.

"I woke up in the hospital with all kinds of IVs hooked up to me. They wanted to keep me there to run tests. I said I had tickets to the game and the nurse said I could watch it on TV.

"When I had the chance, I took those gadgets off me, hailed a cab, went back to the motel and wound up at the game. I felt fine," he added.

Before writing the NFL in an effort to get on the league's Super Bowl ticket list, Henschel often paid scalpers' prices to extend his streak.

The most he paid for a ticket was $1,500. That was Super Bowl XXX, when the Steelers lost to Dallas in Arizona.

"I paid $900 for my ticket this year," he said. "My brother Jim goes with me. He's been to the past 33 (Super Bowls) or so.

"The NFL sends us an invoice every year. It's expensive, but it beats paying the scalpers two or three times the amount of a ticket."

At 44 Super Bowls and counting, how much longer will Henschel's streak last?

"If I'm in a wheelchair, I'd have somebody get me there," he insisted. "I'd have to be on my death bed to miss one."