At 83, Lansing man will go to his 57th Super Bowl with his friends
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — How much has the NFL’s Super Bowl changed since its debut in 1967?
For Greg Eaton — the Lansing businessman who has attended every game and is one of three surviving members of the storied Never Miss A Super Bowl Club — it’s most obvious by the bells and whistles that go with it.
“During that first game, it was college bands performing as entertainment, and that’s how it went those first few years,” said Eaton, partner at Karoub & Associates in Lansing. “Now, you have big name entertainers performing and so many other things tied to it. The NFL has done an amazing job marketing this.”
Indeed, entertainers at the 57th Super Bowl this year include Rihanna, who is set to perform at Sunday’s halftime show, and Chris Stapleton, who will sing the national anthem. And companies like GM and Stellantis are paying millions to promote their brands during the game.
Eaton, 83, is looking forward to the matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles as Super Bowl LVII is held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
As he looked back, Eaton recalled having to stay in separate hotels from his white friends attending an early Super Bowl in Florida in the Jim Crow South. It was a different era. And although Eaton doesn’t have any “skin in the game” on who wins Sunday, he’s particularly proud both teams are led by African American quarterbacks for the first time in the game’s history — the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts.
Eaton said he also is thrilled to be reuniting with the two remaining members of the storied club — Don Crisman, 87, a Maine resident, and Tom Henschel, 82, who hails from Pittsburgh but lives part-time in Florida — to sit together in the stands to watch Sunday’s game.
As part of the club's tradition, Eaton created a hat in recent years for the men to wear and Crisman made special shirts. This year, Eaton has designed a black jacket for each member, with a patch on the pocket with a Super Bowl emblem. It's reminiscent of the iconic gold jacket given to incoming inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“We need to look a certain way,” Eaton said of the distinctive clothing.
Eaton is the only member of the group to have been invited to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s suite during a Super Bowl game. The invitation came about because of a ticketing snafu: Eaton had not been able to purchase a ticket to the game in 2019 and it looked like his streak of attending them all would end. Two men came to his rescue — soon to be president of the Chicago Bears Kevin Warren and his good friend (and, for the record, my significant other) Jim Stapleton, who also possesses NFL ties. The men stepped up and arranged for Eaton to buy a ticket. Goodell got wind of the snafu and invited Eaton to visit him in his suite during halftime.
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Eaton has always been a pioneer and a leader, especially in the communities of Lansing and Detroit. So, it should surprise no one that he’s now planning to help his fellow club members — who are having trouble being able to afford the game and fear this Sunday’s game could be their last together.
Super Bowl weeks are not cheap and have only gotten more expensive. Eaton can meet the rising costs of the week. But that’s not the case for Crisman and Henschel, both retired. They can each purchase tickets from the NFL at face value — $3,500 each. Then, there’s airline costs, hotels and of course, food. Additionally, Crisman has had health issues and is in a wheelchair.
Eaton wants to make sure they are with him at Super Bowl LVIII, which is slated to take place in Las Vegas in 2024, which is why he’s forming an LLC (with Stapleton’s support) to raise funds to support their travel expenses. Eaton will talk about it at an event Friday at Guy Fieri’s Downtown Phoenix Kitchen and Bar.
Richard Gibson, a photographer who has captured images of the Miami Dolphins and attended 37 Super Bowls, connected with the Never Miss A Super Bowl Club years ago and will also be present. They have become friends, and he began taking their photos each year.
Gibson also arranges an annual event so media can interview the group and hear their incredible Super Bowl memories.
Doing anything for 57 years is impressive, let alone something as special as this. Here’s hoping health and resources allow members of this special club to reconvene in Las Vegas next year for SBLVIII — and beyond.
Contact Carol Cain: 248-355-7126 or clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of “Michigan Matters,” which airs at 8 a.m. Sundays on CBS Detroit. See Allegra Baistrocchi, consulate of Italy in Detroit, Franco Bianchi, CEO of Haworth Inc., and Italian designer Roberto Palomba on this Sunday’s show.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lansing's Greg Eaton has gone to every Super Bowl with friends
