'I'm Really Here': Suspect's Arrest Nearly Causes Mother, Sons To Miss Broncos Game
GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) - The family of a longtime Denver Broncos fan managed to get tickets to her first home game ever on Saturday after she cheered the team on for more than 20 years. She almost didn't get to the stadium because the seller had a run in with police hours before kickoff.
"I didn't know for sure if I was ever going to get to go," said Nancy Hagan, 80.
Hagan moved to Colorado in 1972 from South Dakota. She quickly adopted the Broncos as her team. A lover of all sports, but especially football, her five sons knew she would enjoy experiencing a game in person. While she attended one pre-season event, she never made it to a regular season game until Saturday.
"I knew if they wanted to get tickets for a game, they could do it," Hagan said of her sons. "When they want to do something, they can always get it done."
Two years ago she suffered a stroke and needed time to recover. When she was back to her regular routine, her sons knew it was time to get her to a game and found tickets for Saturday on Craigslist when the Broncos played the Cleveland Browns.
"I couldn't walk or speak or do anything really," Hagan recalled of her stroke.
While driving down to the stadium and planning to pick up the tickets from the seller on the way, they called him only to find a Northglenn police officer answering the phone. But the officer told them then, they would still get to the game.
"Oh no, it's a scam," Hagan remembers her son thinking on Saturday before the game. "We have to go home."
It turns out the seller was arrested for a drug-related offense, but officers kept him on scene and made sure the tickets were transferred correctly so Hagan could get to the game.
"Oh it was great, it was great," she said about the whole experience.
Hagan enjoyed seeing other fans tailgating outside the stadium and was not prepared for the sound she heard once she was inside and at her seat.
"I did not realize how much noise those Broncos fans can make," she said. "It's unbelievable the noise."
Regardless of how the team performed that day, and even though they lost, the Broncos fan could not get over the dream she held for decades finally becoming a reality.
"Oh it was wonderful, it was wonderful, it was just great," Hagan said. "Just to go in and sit down and actually think 'I'm really here.'"
Two days after the game, Hagan was still elated at the opportunity her sons gave her and that the officers made sure it happened for her.
"I appreciate it so much, that you got those tickets and thank you so much for taking me," she said. "If it hadn't been for the police that waited, we would have never been able to go to that game."
Shawn Chitnis reports weeknights for CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Email him story ideas at smchitnis@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
