Cabot man continues 'Super' streak
CABOT — The streak continues.
Tom Henschel, 72, of Cabot will be in the stands at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday for Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks.
Henschel has been in the stands for all 47 Super Bowl games. So have Larry Jacobson, 74, of San Francisco, and Don Crisman, 76, of Maine. They've sat together at the game since 1999.
“We don't talk to each other much otherwise,” Henschel said. “We'll e-mail each other with updates on our lives, if one of us hears a good joke, we'll pass it along. That's about it.”
While Henschel pays for his tickets, lodging and transportation to the game annually, the NFL sends him an invoice each year providing the opportunity to buy tickets.
The invoice usually allots six tickets total — two each — to the trio. This year, the league cut the number of tickets to five.
“With one of us only getting one ticket, it took some planning,” Henschel admitted. “With Larry being a 49ers fan, he was getting two tickets if San Francisco made it. Don is a big Patriots fan, so he was getting two if New England made it.
“I was thrilled — ecstatic, actually — when both of their teams lost in the championship games. We hate each other's teams. Sitting with them during a 49ers-Patriots Super Bowl would have been brutal.”
Because Denver got in, Henschel got to keep one of the other tickets. He is taking his great-nephew, Knoch graduate Hunter Balliet, to the Super Bowl.
Balliet, a freshman at Mansfield University and a former Knoch baseball player, has been an avid Broncos fan for years.“I liked their team colors when I was a little kid,” Balliet said. “Everyone else in the family loves the Steelers so I wanted to be different.”Balliet owns a number of Broncos jerseys, including John Elway, Jake Plummer, Tim Tebow, Champ Bailey and Eddie Royal, and has numerous Broncos shirts, hats, footballs and other memorabilia.“My uncle told me for years that if the Broncos ever get to the Super Bowl, he's taking me,” Balliet said.Their seats are behind an end zone in the upper deck and cost $1,000 each. Henschel is flying to the game. Balliet, who is taking a train from Mansfield to New Jersey, will meet his uncle at their motel, then take a bus back to school Monday.“The cheapest hotel room you can get for the weekend costs $400 to $500, the higher end hotels go for $800 or $900 per night,” Henschel said. “I figure to drop $6,000 or so on the entire weekend.”That's a far cry from the early Super Bowls, some of which Henschel received free tickets. His ticket price for the first 11 Super Bowls never exceeded $20.“I used to know a lot of players from doing a second job as a bartender in Chicago. They used to set me up with tickets,” said Henschel, a retired airline worker. “The pretty flight attendants always came in there and that's what attracted the players.”Henschel has no objection to footing the annual bill these days.“Here today, gone tomorrow,” he said. “I have no kids so I don't need to save money for anybody, and I can't take it with me.”Balliet said it's “cool” having a family member who's been at every Super Bowl.“He tells us stories about the cities he's been in, different stadiums, the games themselves ... I tell friends about him and people are just in awe,” Balliet said.“Kids in school would come up to me and say they saw my uncle on TV in a VISA commercial. It's all fun. Now I get a chance to go to the game myself. I can't wait.”Henschel has taken plenty of people to the Super Bowl over the years.“I took three or four different girlfriends before I got married,” he said. “There's been six or seven buddies, I took my dad five times, my mom twice, brother and sister ... There's still plenty of people on the list.”As long as he's healthy, Henschel plans to keep checking people off that list.“I feel healthier now than I did 15 or 20 years ago,” he said. “I wake up and have my spinach, blueberries and scrambled eggs every morning and I feel like a new guy.“My sister says I look like I'm getting younger every year.”But he's not crazy about the Super Bowl being in New Jersey because it will be played outside.“Break out the long underwear, I guess,” Henschel said, laughing. “I'll be layered up pretty good. I'm just a little guy, 136 pounds, I don't have much insulation.“I'll buy some thermal gloves, hand warmers, whatever it takes to get through the day.”And while his great-nephew will be rooting for Denver, “I'll be siding with Seattle,” Henschel admitted.“This is only their second Super Bowl. I'd like to see them win one. I still feel bad because we (Steelers) beat them in their only other chance,” he said.But while Henschel is sitting in MetLife Stadium, he'll be thinking about New Orleans.“Great town, great locale,” he said. “That's where every Super Bowl should be played.”
