LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Once a Raider fan, always a Raider fan!
A 93-year-old Las Vegas woman is proving that saying to be true.
Helen Emerson moved from the Bay Area to Las Vegas over 50 years ago. When the Raiders did the same in 2020, she said jokingly, they were following her.
She’s been a Raiders fan since the team was founded in 1960.
“TV’s weren’t all that common then so I started out listening to the games on the radio. Eventually I got to where I could visualize what was happening without ever seeing the field.
Every Sunday this living room was packed from wall-to-wall with brand new Raider fans plus an oldie, me,” Emerson said.
Behind her gentle smile, is a football fanatic, who can tell you just about everything about the Raiders.
“There was always something kind of magical about what they were doing, especially when they threw a pass and that runner was running, running and he turned around and bingo, he grabbed himself around that ball and kept on running. These guys were great and I never missed a game since then,” Emerson said.
After all these years, she never had the opportunity to attend a game in-person, until Friday.
Her daughter Dianne bought her tickets to the Raiders preseason game versus the New England Patriots. Emerson said it was a dream come true.
“I got my own ticket and then my friend was like why don’t you see if your mom wants to go and I laughed because I figured she’d just say no,” Dianne said.
“I said yeah, you got to have a first game somewhere along the way this might as well be it. I don't know how many more I have ahead of me,” Emerson said.
