WEST BLOOMFIELD (WWJ) — While there’s a pep rally scheduled for Lions fans Friday night at the Detroit Auto Show, there was an entirely different type of pep rally Thursday afternoon — a gathering of the team’s “oldest fans.”
A group of Lions fans in their 80s and 90s who were teenagers and young adults the last time the Lions won an NFL Championship got together for a celebration of fandom ahead of Detroit’s NFC Divisional Round game against the Washington Commanders on Saturday.
A few of them were even around for the team’s inaugural season in 1934.
Members of the nonprofit residential living community, Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan Detroit, got together at the community’s Fleischman Residence in West Bloomfield for the “Roarin’ With Pride” rally.
Aaron Greenspan, 83, spent the day reflecting on days gone by.
“My dad used to take me to Briggs Stadium and we used to sit by the right field foul pole, up in the upper deck. We used to sit in the cold, the rain, the sleet. We loved it.”
Greenspan says he’s excited about the Lions’ prospects of bringing reaching — and hopefully winning — the franchise’s first Super Bowl, what would be their first title since 1957, predating the Super Bowl.
But did he ever think back then it would take this long for the Honolulu Blue and Silver to make it back to the promised land?
“No… no… no…” he lamented.
Jay Berry, 80, was 12 years old when Detroit won it all in ‘57. His advice to Lions fans — young and old — this time around as they try to win it all?
“You gotta appreciate it for what it’s worth, because you may not see it again.”
“You know, it might be a one-time thing and you just gotta appreciate what you’re watching now and hope that they can do the same thing because things change a lot in the National Football League,” he said.
In addition to swapping stories of the Lions’ glory days — and the not so glorious days — Thursday’s event featured signs, memorabilia, Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid, appearances by former Lions Maurice Harvey, Tim Walton and nine “Motor City Dan Campbell” lookalikes.
One of those lookalikes, Jeff Randall of Manchester, recently won a lookalike contest at HopCat in Detroit. He told Hewett he’s been mistaken for the head coach more than once.
On Friday, the Lions hype will collide with the Detroit Auto Show as former players and Detroit-based singer Mike Posner will headline a pep rally.
Saturday’s kickoff is set for 8 p.m.